


Faster Than a Bird of Prey

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: DCU (Comics), The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-12
Updated: 2014-03-12
Packaged: 2018-01-15 11:20:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 37,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1303003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Oliver and Dinah's break-up, Dinah turns to undercover work and finds a family. Over time, it pays off for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faster Than a Bird of Prey

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: Begins shortly after GA ver 2 Issue 75 for DCU, and pre-Fast and the Furious by about three years. The movie itself is set just after the events of "Hunt for Oracle". Timelines are fuzzy for all other characters referenced.

The hardest part of going undercover for this particular job down in LA had been finding the right kind of car. Luckily for her, there were times that blackmail even worked on the Bat. Especially when it concerned pictures of him and a certain thief -- and how little he wanted them to be seen by either of his younger partners. She'd acquired what she needed from his garage and pockets -- and given him a quick kick about just how blatant he'd been being while she did it. 

Dinah stayed in her car for just a minute, looking the crowd she'd found down in the LA streets over. She saw nothing but a mass of twenty-somethings with too much money, too much time, and no damn sense of anything but the next thrill on their hands. She already had the strongest lead in weeks on how to break the current drug chain coming up out of California, but all she knew now was that it was somehow tied to the street racing crowd here. That one of the big boys in racing was helping funnel the drugs in. So here she was...

While she was watching them from her car, the car was being eyed right back. Nobody much recognized the paint job, so curiosity ran through the crowd at the sight of a damned Mustang, honest to god American Ford down here painted up to race like the driver didn't know they ran imports. That had brought heads turning all on its own, especially when they got a good listen to the engine and realized there probably wasn't a factory part left on the engine for it to sound that way. New faces always got attention, especially when they were driving something that strange for the area -- and the honey-blonde beauty that stepped out of it once she'd pulled into a parking spot was no different. She was a tiny little doll of a woman in dark leather that gleamed under the lights.

Dom kept an eye out that way as she started to move through the crowd. The girls that drove all on their own, handled a car with that kind of money behind it, and moved the way she did -- that kind were always trouble, one way or another. The only question right now was what kind she was going to be.

She walked around her car as if looking it over for anything out of line; like the drive in might have dinged something or gotten mud or bugs on her car and she wasn't going to put up with that for a second, moving with an easy confidence in every step that practically radiated a quiet kind of danger. The ones in the crowd that were bold enough to brave her, calling questions over the noise about the car got answers that said she was not just face; she knew engine specs – at least for hers – inside and out, and body-work too.

//Ve-ry nice,// Dom thought, watching that long, sure glide as she moved around her car, deciding she might be worth having in town just because of her looks... but with the way she was talking, what she obviously knew – she might be worth way more than that. He moved over to the ref, and leaned in close, wrapping an arm up around his shoulder. "Hector and Nakenan and Huy were planning on running tonight, right? See if she's here to race. If so..." He flashed a quick flicker of a smile. He might not race tonight, but they were. This would be a real good way to see what she was made of. 

The ref nodded and went over to put the squeeze on. If the girl was showing off that car and wanted to run, she had to pay up like anyone else. Seemed like Dominic agreed with him on that, which never hurt a thing. 

Dinah cocked her head, resting her weight on one leg and managing to look so very sexy while she listened to the young man in front of her for a minute or two. There were things about hot-rod culture that rode on her very last nerve in some ways -- but then, she had a hell of a lot of fun playing up the minx, too. //Ah. Referee. Alright, then... that'll make this easier,// she nodded and flashed him a bright smile before pulling out a small roll of bills to cash in on the race. 

Dom went back to his car after he saw her buy in -- absolutely sex on a stick, and pretty for a blonde, he decided. He stopped to wrap an arm around Leon for a moment, reached out and slugged Vince in the shoulder for a crack he made on the way past, and gave a couple of the baby-doll girls that swarmed around a thrill by talking to them for a minute or two...

The corner of his eye caught her moving around, playing to the boys, reeling them in. No one really thought she stood a chance, but a pretty face playing at cars was hard to resist for any of these boys. Most of the girls around were being very catty and not impressed, but then, they always hated any competition that actually spoke the same language as the gearhead boys did. Letty, on the other hand, was starting to look like she just might be at least a little impressed.

//Oh, but she's good at the game,// Dom thought, still keeping an eye on her as she worked the crowd. New face, new car, all looks and flash and ... //got spine, too,// he decided as he watched her dealing with a quick face-off with one of the Mexicali girls. 

The ref whistled, called out the names of the racers; //Laurel, huh? Alright, then...//, and the four of them headed for their cars, everyone piling into rides to get out to where they actually raced. Dom paid close attention as he saw them pull up to the strip, listening as they cordoned off the blocks. She handled her ride well, bringing it right to the line and not a touch over.

She wasn't looking anywhere but the ref right then, having heard enough of the particular slang as the boys checked her out to be sure that some of them did deal with the crowd she was after. Right now, she had to prove that she fit in, that her talk and and her car and her skills were real. One more time she wished it could have been a biker go-gang -- she was so much better with a bike, really; but cars were her second trick when it came to speed and she could make them believe this was all she was, too. 

The ref tonight held his hands out, steady and sure -- and then they dropped. Four engines roared and leapt from the line, racing over that half-mile of flat, tight asphalt.

Dinah knew the car. She had made sure to get its feel before following her lead, spending hours up in parking-lots and flat stretches of road in the high desert with no-one else around. Now the car became simply part of her, an extension of her will. These boys were good, but she was going to make an impression. 

Dom shifted up on the hood of his car at the first roar, watching as -- that new, sleek car pulled ahead of Hector's. He had to admit, that woman worked that 'Stang like a champ. The engine sounded perfect as she sent it rocketing through the gears and down towards the paint... and damn but she could drive. They were coming down into the last bit of the stretch, easy to see even over the crowd of people. //Hector, don't get to eager, man... oh, no, too soon, bud,// he thought as he saw the flare of the nitrous hit, and Nakenan followed him. Almost an eighth left, longer than the nitrous would last either one of them...

Dinah just smiled when they pressed on by her, holding off to see if the third driver would try it now. She knew that if he tried to outwait her, he might not hit the line first -- and then she _knew_ it was the right time and punched it. //Damn, B, you gave me a beauty of a car.// The thought ripped through her mind as inertia threw her back in the seat like a fist in the gut.

She flashed past Nakenan, past Hector, and across the line in the unearthly roar of the nitrous and the wind screaming past at over a hundred miles an hour... She crossed the line in the barest blink of an eye before her other competition, and full seconds before the two that had already lost.

The crowd went nuts, shocked and enjoying the surprise of her win -- and Dom just watched, letting the smile curve his lips as she pulled herself up out of the open window of the car and sauntered over to get her money.

"Think I know my car now?" she called to one of the ones that had doubted a pair of legs like hers could possibly drive the way her car begged to be driven. She rolled the money tight and made it disappear into the leathers she wore. 

"Love to know you the way you know that car," was called in reply, and Dom laughed quietly at the remark. Pretty good line, for their crowd. He wondered how she was going to handle responding in the moment before she did.

Dinah just looked the speaker over, and gave him a long, lazy smile after a moment. "Doubt you can make me purr half as much as she does." 

Some of his buddies whooped at the disdain in her voice and Dom could practically see them chalking up points in her favor. Not too surprising, everyone loved a girl that could talk the talk. Then another voice caught his attention, joining in the cat-calling from a few feet away.

"Oh, _burn_." 

Dom turned his head, startled as Letty laughed from over where she'd been playing with her car, looking over at the new girl's current target, too. "You're right, too. He's all talk," she decreed, sauntering over towards the new gi-- woman in town. Definitely woman, because that was no girl, not with those dark blue eyes and the strength in her face.

The new racer turned her attention their way. She had noticed the man before, recognized the marks of respect paid to him by the crowd. It was hard for someone like her to miss the signs of the man everyone in the area wanted to be -- or be with. Now she took in the way the girl coming up to his side acted, both possessive of the bald man and not sure her claim was as solid as her nature demanded it to be. "Find that to be too true, too much. Name's Laurel." She needed to get in with one of the groups, to have more reason to study them all. The opportunity seemed to be staring her square in the face, right now, so there was no way she wasn't going to take the girl up on it.

"Letty," she said with a quick smile, sticking out an arm that had heavy leather bracelets all up it. "Nice driving. And yeah, it is around this crowd."

Dinah shook with a hand still covered in fingerless black leather gloves, casual strength in both of them easily noticed by the other young woman. With a smile, she looked at the man beside Letty, and shrugged a little, smiling. "I take it not all of them though." She flicked her attention back to the woman before saying it, trying to avoid possible jealousies. Unfortunately for the undercover hero, that quick look had already confirmed that the man was entirely too dangerous to any sane woman's libido. 

"Some of them don't do too bad," Letty grinned her agreement on that. "Looks like the racing's about over for tonight. Dom, party?" 

The big man next to her nodded, "Sure." He looked at Laurel, giving her the address -- and just as he finished, the speakers blared "cops! co-!" 

"MOVE!"

The little blonde honey moved with speed and grace back to her car, avoiding contact with any of the others moving so fast. The Mustang opened back up with a purring growl of her engine, and was gone before half the spectators had hit their cars. Letty noticed the way she'd moved even in the scramble of them getting the hell out of there. Just like Dom could see, Letty knew that that new driver wanted nothing to do with cops. 

They bailed fast and in all directions, those of them that had the closest to legal cars holding back the longest to give every else a chance at breaking clear. They could block the couple of cops that were already there more than long enough.

Dom took one of the round-about ways home, dropping the Mazda off where he hid it and sliding into his street car, pulling up well later than some of them. Not too bad a crowd -- mostly because they hadn't had the chance to put the word out, he would bet. He slid out and headed in, checking for his team to make sure they'd all gotten home safe. Jesse flirting half-assed with some girl, Vince leaning on the stair-rail talking up at Mia, Letty crashed across the couch... and the growl of Leon's engine just pulling up. Good.

Several others of the crowd had come and more were showing up as they had had the sense God gave them and used the longer ways back. Not much after Hector showed up, the blonde walked in, all confident grace and full of sex appeal that still made the girls hate her on sight. Oh, the fights that were going to come out of her being in this town... He wasn't sure if he wanted to be around to watch them, or didn't want to be anywhere near.

Dom moved over to meet her, this time. "Hey. We didn't get around to introductions before the party got all interrupted... I'm Dom Toretto; this's my place." He waved a hand up around, casually.

"Laurel Drake." She held her hand out to shake, while looking him over again. Second look in better light, and she was even more sure that the man was just plain bad news for her peace of mind. "You have a garage, right? Seems I heard the name mentioned."

"Yeah, I do," Dom nodded, content enough to have his name ring an instant bell with someone that was from out of town. "Why, you need something for that gorgeous ride? Or just placing the name?"

"Placing it. Though anyone can have a bad day with an engine," she said with just enough twist to her voice to say that she didn't have them all that often. 

"Yeah... it does happen," he nodded and pointed backwards, "You met Letty. Behind me's Vince, the girl about to dump a beer on his head is my sister Mia, that's Leon holding up part of my wall, and Jesse -- has his head in that computer again. One of the guys you beat the pants off of is Hector, right over there. Get you something to drink?"

"I'll take a beer or a cooler," she answered as Hector came over. "Nice run," she told him with a smile, reaching out to shake if he'd take her hand. 

"Yeah, but you pulled it sweet and clean." He wasn't one to hold hurt feelings over a race like that one -- he'd screwed it up, no fault of hers. 

"Corona do you?" Dom asked, taking the few steps back to grab a bottle, hand on the cap as he looked at her. 

She flashed him a smile that could have had a priest on his knees for her, completely happy to use everything she had with these guys. Besides, she wanted them to think she was a little younger than she was, and one of the fastest ways to do that was to be as brassy with her sexuality as she was comfortable being as any twenty-something. "Sure," she nodded, then called off a quick answer to someone asking her about the car before she focused back on him. 

//Fucking gorgeous,// flashed through Dom's mind, immediately followed by a quick mental smack of 'knock it off, Letty'll kill you'. She did make him curious, though, and that didn't happen all that often. He popped the cap off the Corona, and handed it over to her. "You don't sound that much like Cali... got some of it, though." 

She laughed bright and happy at that, her lips smiling a little more widely. "East coast girl. Lived in Star for years though," a flicker of pain crossed her eyes. "And other places." 

"So what brings an east coast racer back out this way?" Dom asked as he started to move, heading back through the house to find himself a seat with enough room for her not that far away. That could be a problem, the house was even more packed than usual, but then again, it was his house. He jerked his head at one of the guys, settling into the seat that had been promptly abandoned.

She took him up on that silent invitation, following him over to take a place nearby. "East coast got a little hard to be on." Her tone was bland enough to let it seem like trouble, even though she had told the truth. Her mother had found Gotham too hard to bear after dad's death, and dragged her out of Gotham and into Star City, where coming to Green Arrow's attention had been as inevitable as breathing. 

"Seems like there's trouble everywhere," Dom nodded, leaning back in the chair, Corona of his own tipped back against his lips. 

She could not help but watch him drink the beer, the way his lips touched the bottle, the long line of his throat. He made her notice simply by breathing, and that made her sip her own beer., using the taste and the motion to distract herself from the way he made her simmer. 'Business, not pleasure', and 'he's taken already' were the thoughts she used to fight back her appreciation of the man. She never played that way. 

Dom looked at her as she tipped that beer back, pretty dark lips pursed as she sipped at it, her head tipped back just righ-- //oh, _stop that_ // He opened his mouth to ask her something about the car, and heard rippling, wild laughter outside. His eyes went dark and flat, his head cocking to the side.

She turned her attention to the out-of-place sound with all the sharp tension of a woman who didn't like unknowns. The flash of irritation in her eyes was unmistakable as the laughter came toward the door with that sickening, not all there quality some users had in their voices.

Dom came up off the chair and was halfway across the room in bare moments. "Hang on a sec," he said over one shoulder, the tank-top doing nothing to hide the solid cords of muscle tension had brought out, and he disappeared around the corner. Dinah was not a woman who had ever learned to stay back when told that, and moved to follow at the same time some of his crew did. She stayed just where she could see him handle the situation..

Dom was standing just inside the entrance, arms crossed high up over his chest, when the door swung open and one of Hector's crowd and the girl he was with nearly stumbled against it. "Luis," Dom said, his voice dark, "turn it around. You think I can't see you're lit?"

Luis smiled, stoned-stupid about whatever he'd taken, and shrugged with both arms wide. "No harm in it, 'mano." The girl with him giggled, and Dinah wanted so badly to do something... but she held her patience. Bigger fish to fry somewhere else. She wouldn't do anyone any good by losing her cool over one pair of users. She wanted the traffickers. 

"You're just to damn dumb to see it, Luis, but you know my rules. You don't bring that shit in my house, you don't bring you when you're on it. Now turn around."

Luis fired off a curse in mexicali slang, making Letty and Vince tense and come up behind Dom, backing him up. Dinah decided the opportunity was too good to resist joining in and fired off one of the rougher ones she had heard Roy use when he was really angry. Even Hector, caught in the rapidly growing crowd of watchers tucked in around the stairs, had to admit she had the cajones to be there. The girl with Luis started to say something but Hector got moving, sliding up between them and Dom as he promised to get them off Dom's property. 

Dom nodded his way, letting Hector take over handling his people -- he wasn't going to start something with the young idiot if Hector was going to deal with it for him. Once they were out the door and off of his lawn, he tipped his beer back and took a long swig, letting the tension run out of his body as he did. "Okay, show's over, no fistfight tonight."

Dinah gained an immediate appreciation for two things, watching the situation. One was that Dom didn't tolerate drugs. The second was that the calm assurance he radiated was backed up by an intense strength he very consciously reined in. She drifted back into the party area and nursed the beer while she wondered if she could work from Dom's group to find the ones running the drugs north. 

Dom followed her back in -- just in time to see her tip that bottle back and down the last of it. The sight went straight to his groin, which just made him growl in exasperation at his sex drive and walk over. "Where were we?"

"Getting to know me, I think," she said in a voice made deeper by the beer and the excitement. "Which isn't fully fair. I should get to know a little about you and your friends too." She knew Letty had watched them, but she also knew she was being just distant enough to keep the girl less nervous about her intentions.

Dom shrugged a shoulder and went back over to his seat, dropping down into it carelessly. "What do you want to know?"

"You race? All of your people?"

"Mia doesn't," Dom shook his head, hard. "She's the good one. Jesse, he builds the systems more than he races. The rest of us do."

Dinah flashed him a smile at that, distantly pleased at the way he guarded his sister. "Good setup." She watched the party, taking in the younger of the siblings with interest. Beautiful girl in either her late teens or early twenties, When she looked back at the man, she had made up her mind. "Know any place an honest gearhead might find a little work without too many questions? Moved around too much for a solid job history."

"...yeah. I know a couple places," Dom nodded. "Couple parts shops are always hiring," he looked her up and down, long and slow, "since I'd bet you're not looking to wait tables."

She laughed, a slow sensuous sound as she shook her head, denying that idea. "I'd be in trouble for breaking someone's wrists too fast."

"I just bet you would," he replied with a slow, lazy smile. All of the ways she handled herself said she knew real well how to take care of herself, and wasn't likely to put up with crap from anyone. "Harry's, 'the Racer's Edge' over on," he rattled her the address, "and yeah. I'll give him a call."

"And I just bet the name of Dom Toretto goes a long way with the parts shops in this area." She kept her tone light, not quite flirting, but definitely fun as she said it. 

"I get by on it," Dom nodded, smiling back at her with a lazy, half-casual look.

Dinah knew her blue eyes darkened with smoky desire for that feline lazy arrogance just beneath his surface, but she didn't let it affect how she handled him. He was taken, and she didn't play those games. "Then I guess I owe you a thank you some day...if Harry hires me."

"I guess you will," Dom purred right back at her, low and easy, watching her eyes go smoky.

She gave him a little smile before turning her attention away, calling out to Letty, drawing her into talk of cars and life in this town. It would be far safer to befriend the girl than to get any closer to the man making her flush with desire on the inside of her cool exterior. 

Dom blinked, intrigued by the way she'd turned away from him... not many women did that.

She was as easy with Letty as with him, which was pretty intriguing. Letty and her all-attitude, all the time rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, about as easily as she breathed. She didn't seem to care much for Vince, when he came over and joined in the conversation with the new girl; but then, he was rough around the edges even for this crowd. 

Leon just leaned on the wall and listened as the girls talked, drawling a few casual words every so often.

Jesse drew faint smiles -- not mocking ones, but genuinely friendly ones -- from her. By the time things were winding down, only Dom had noticed her one Corona had lasted her most of the night. When she stood to go, she did with a stretch that showed off plenty of toned muscle under that leather.

Dom watched her as she left, then looked at his team. "Interesting girl..."

"Not bad for a stranger," Letty decided before she moved closer to him, pushing into his space. He smiled, reaching down to wrap an arm close around her and pull her into his lap, holding her there.

He could tell that pleased her, settled her tension down, and she was soon distracting him from the chatter of the boys. Only Mia didn't seem to have an opinion yet, but she was normally the cautious one. The one he could rely on to keep his judgment steady.

* * *

Dom woke up around 7, just when the store would be opening, and hit Harry's number once he was awake enough to see his phone clearly. 

"'Lo...Torreto, what you got for me?" An early call like this might mean major cash, if the garage needed a lot of parts for something. 

Dom always had a list. Nothing huge, but he'd won enough last night to be able to pick up some things. He ran the list down, got the price Harry was going to gouge him with, then chuckled quietly. "You want to have half the guys in the area in your store, more than usual?" 

Harry's ears sharpened. "Nothing too dicey, but yeah. I'd love to actually make some money every day," he said, always hating it when someone outside their neighborhoods walked away with the cash. It usually cost him in the long run. 

"Nah, nothing dicey. Just this pretty little dame that beat the pants off of Hector, Nakenan, and Miguel last night.... and is looking for gearhead work. I told her I'd point her your way." 

Harry did the math in a quiet few seconds. Dom thought she was pretty, so her looks had to be solid. She had just won a race against some of the boys that did it all the time, which would gain her points with the racers. She had to know the cars; none of these drivers _just_ drove. "She comes my way, I'll look into it. She got a name, or is it just 'pretty little dame'?" 

"Name's Laurel Drake. Gotham by way of Star City, only stands about chest-high on me," Dom said. "She doesn't work out, no sweat, but don't just chase her off. She was leanin' over Jesse last night, talking shop." 

That got Harry's attention real well. A girl that could keep up with that boy and his head for engines? "I'll listen and all. Have that list up for you by noon, too." 

Dom nodded. "Alright, Harry. See you later." He hung up, slid out of bed, and went to go start on breakfast -- until Mia chased him back out of the kitchen, at least. 

Mia came down right on cue behind him, her eyes dancing at him as she shooed him away from the fridge and started in on making an actual breakfast for them. "New girl on the street, huh? One smart enough not to piss Letty off right off the bat." 

"Yeah, I noticed that," Dom agreed, shrugging a shoulder as he got out of his sister's way. "She's got the skill, though. What did you think of her? You were awful quiet last night..." 

Mia shrugged one shoulder as she flipped the eggs. "Comes out of nowhere, knows the lingo okay, walks a careful line with everyone...except Luis, and he was too stoned to remember what she fired off at him... I just decided one of us out to keep our eyes peeled." She didn't directly say a word that Dom's activities were sometimes more illegal than just simple racing -- she didn't have to, for Dom to get what she meant. "She seemed okay, though." 

"Letty said she peeled even faster than we did," Dom nodded, letting his sister's good sense run through his own paranoia. They'd keep an eye out, see what she was made of some more, and then... Well. 

"Letty's not twitching because of her, and she talks okay to Jesse, so yeah, we'll see." She served up their breakfast, and sat with him to wolf it down. 

Dom nodded and shoved the rest of it into the microwave for whoever got up next, then headed out the door for the garage, Mia tucked up next to him.

* * *

Harry looked up as the bell chimed -- and for just a second, even he had to stare at the tiny little woman walking in the door, all dark clothes and sassy sway. 

"Guy told me you might be looking for a hand," she said, and he could hear it... that Eastern seaboard harshness under a Cali-lazy way of talking. "Know cars, bikes too. The works and the pretty." 

"You're Drake, then?" Harry asked, taking another long look all up and down her. Yeah, she'd bring the traffic in, even dressed that... conservative. That wasn't normally the word for toe to neck, palm to palm black leather, but it was the only thing that fit in this crowd. "Dom spoke up for you, so you've got to. All right. Let's see how this goes. License for my records, and fill this out," he slid the paper across to her. 

The woman fished her license out of a back pocket on the jeans. She wore them tight, but with a deeper cut to them than most girls liked, letting her move with freedom. Not much skin showed, but the way it was covered let a man's mind stray. She filled out the sheet, showed him the worn Star City license that was due to expire later this year -- sometimes it was nice to have friends in the PD that would rather have you under a cover they knew all about -- and smiled at him.

"So, give me a list, and I'll get to work." 

Harry went and copied her license once she'd handed it to him, gave it back, and a small smile crossed his lips as he grabbed the sheet of paper he'd been scrawling on earlier. "Here, pay Toretto back, get this made up onto a pallet for him." 

Dinah got to work on it, a small smile gracing her lips as she did. Toretto was going to be useful, she could feel it, as a base to stay anchored in this underworld long enough to find the big fish on the drug trail.

* * *

Dinah had used the money from Harry's to get her a place closer to the area the racers preferred. She still kept her car locked up at the garage of a former Queen Industries plant, since it was now owned by Bruce. She fobbed off that she had a friend who worked there that let her use his parking pass for an occasional date. She used her bike to get around the majority of the time, unless she needed the car to prove she knew what she was doing. 

Tonight, however, was all about watching. She'd ditched the bike at Harry's and ridden to the chosen street with Leon and Jesse of all people. She wouldn't have minded riding with Dom, but Letty was still in a snit over the last chica that had tried to get where she didn't belong. 

Leon was driving with his usual causal arm flung over the steering wheel, while Jesse was twisted around in the seat, gesturing with both hands as he rattled about the latest idea he'd had to coax a little more efficiency out of Letty's engine. He kept getting more and more hyper with being unable to _do_ anything about it, nearly bouncing in the seat until Leon popped him across the shoulder with the back of a hand. "Man, would you just take a drag? Calm your ass down 'fore you scare her out of the car?"

"No, I'm being good. She glares every time I light one," Jesse retorted. 

"Sorry, Jesse...damn near lost my little brother to shit, and it all started with weed," she told him, leaning up to rub at his neck in the way that usually calmed Roy when things pushed his buttons. 

Jesse leaned into the rubbing, almost purring as he pushed into her hand, and he looked at her with his green eyes dark. "Yeah... that happens sometimes. People that use it to get high, they start needing better highs, I know. But all the 'scrips make me so damn stupid, I can't use them, I can't work when I'm on any of that shit -- weed works. Just... I like you, and you hate it." 

"You use it careful, I'll try not to frown so much," she told him, before smiling winningly at him. 

He grinned back at her, tension running out of him a little more, and then laughed, "Dom'd beat me half black and blue he ever caught me with anything harder, Laur. Like the time Vince showed up after that fight freaked, you remember, Leon?"

"Man... don't remind me," Leon rumbled back, shaking his head. "Those two're damn near scary when they go at it, 'specially when Vince didn't have the sense god gave a cat to back down 'cause he was so wired..." 

The blonde listened to that, filing it away under the 'more dangerous than he tries to look' file on Dom. The man ran a good gang, and she knew he had his fingers in something illegal, but so far it hadn't smelled like drugs. It would have been hard not to notice, while she was sliding into Dominic Toretto's life, that he wasn't fully clean. He raced against the other two major teams, both Hector and Johnny Tran's groups, but she had seen Dom with Johnny a few times, discussing business in low, quiet voices. And there were always parts turning up at Harry's that weren't always on official invoices. That didn't worry her near as much as the drug trade she was after; property laws being broken didn't usually land 16 year old boys in rehab with broken lives. But about Dom... Vince was not a small-built man, and his temper had flared a few times since she'd met them all... That Dom could take him down while he was wired said something. 

Leon pulled them into a spare slot, and slid out to hold the door open for her, still talking at Jesse about that night -- until his girl this week came trotting up all makeup and barely enough clothes to avoid an indecent exposure arrest. She came up and his voice trailed off, then re-focused on her and he took off into the crowd with her.

Jesse shook his head, laughing as he offered her an arm playfully. "Trust Leon. So... we gonna go find out who's racing tonight?" 

"I think we will," she purred, taking his arm and making it clear she was there with him. Jesse was a sweet kid, and every boost she could give him within decency was just part of her nature. She looked around as they moved, seeing the betting going on, noting who was carrying the larger cash rolls, and comparing it to the tallies she kept in her head of who raced and who bet. More cash out there, every single night they met, than she could provide for by what she knew, and some of it was dirty drug money. 

Jesse just grinned wider at the way she purred -- she was totally out of his league, but she was awesome -- and started through the crowd, making space for her beside him as they made their way on up to the ref and he could schmooze for who was running. 

Dinah let the drivers' names filter in, sharpening when she heard both Johnny and Hector had a buddy in it tonight. She flicked her mental eyes back over the notes of bettors in the crowd, and how much money was being held. Both those groups had people with all the signs; maybe she would luck out soon on finding the supplier and the connections. 

"You putting money anywhere, Laur?" Jesse asked, looking for one of the half-dozen bookies working the crowd in preparation for the first race of the night. 

"No, I don't think so... just enough to buy in next week, if I stretch, after I replace that gasket," she murmured in his ear. "But if I were placing them tonight, I'd lay it on Johnny's friend." 

"...Yeah. Lance is bad news, and he hardly ever loses. Tomas'd have to have a real good day to take him..." Jesse nodded, just as quiet, and decided to keep his money right where it was, too. 

She looked around the crowd again, looking for where Vince and Dom and Letty had ended up. A quick spot and she knew where Leon was with his girl of the week. It always paid to know where the allies were, even if she had yet to see one of these get ugly. Vince was prowling as usual, in and out of this and that part of the crowd, Dom had his usual flock of admirers -- the girls that wanted to be with him, though most of those were taking warning from the look in Letty's eyes and how close she was standing, and the boys that wanted to _be_ him. Few boys that wanted to be with him, too, she would just bet, but in this culture... They were doing a good job keeping it hidden. 

It made her smile on the inside to see the crowd and know she was grasping it as fast as she had gotten the underground in Star or Seattle. That was her knack, and the reason she never A-listed for long. She was too much a piece of a city to go world-wide. 

As she watched, listened, and just breathed it all in, her mind was working. Trained by her father in detective work, and honed by a decade or so of solid hero stunts, Dinah could get to the bottom of the trafficking; she just needed time, and the continued shelter of being connected to one of the bigger factions in the society of racers. 

Jesse milled for a while, letting both of them talk to people, stuck his head into several open hoods to check out some mod the driver had made, then it was race-time and they both headed to grab a place close to the line, Dinah cursing her height quietly. She used the sharp points of her boots to keep a small view clear, elbows working well to keep her and Jesse a space to themselves. 

It always amazed Jesse how quick the races went when you weren't in the car. When you were, time stretched out like molasses, and every tick of the clock seemed like it took an eternity... but on the outside, you barely had time to take a couple of breaths before it was all over. 

"Told you," Dinah whispered in his ear, before laughing at the way Tomas was cursing up one side and down the other in furious Spanish. "Could hear the pitch go off in his engine...did you?" 

"Yeah, sounded like he damn near dropped it going out of second. If he doesn't need to replace half those parts tomorrow, I'm a monkey's uncle," Jesse nodded. 

"More business for Harry." She cocked her ears to the wind, and her mouth tightened. "Shit, J, they're on the trail fast tonight," she said, pulling him toward the car fast, even before the sirens were hitting enough awareness to get the cop warning screamed out. 

"And for y--oh, shit!" Jesse bailed with her, then saw the way the cars were moving, that Leon was gonna cut off in the peel-out. His mind flicked through what the options were, coming up with damn near nothing. "Hell! C'mon, we get a couple blocks over and we won't get grabbed, they won' care about foot traffic with them all to chase--Leon gets pulled, he's solid, but I--" 

That told her he was carrying weed still, even if he hadn't been in it all night... 

"Come on, Jesse, and trust me," she told him, seeing the best route off the street. She got him a little ways over from the actual scene, then pushed him back against the wall of a building and ran a hand up his chest, leaning into him, just like they hadn't been anywhere. The cops peeling by made her look, like any citizen surprised by sirens, but to the cops, she and Jesse were just a pair of Gen-X-ers making out by a building, not worth paying attention to right now. 

The move shocked him enough to push into her hands, his own settling onto her hips for just a minute as the cops went past -- mostly instinct even as a shocked laugh rippled out of him. He kept hold of her as they went past, dipping his head down. He held on tight to her until they were all past, then he was laughing again in relief, hands still on her as he batted big, dark eyes at her. "Do that again?" he asked, even while he shook his head wryly. "Good thing you're so tiny, or we'd have somebody on us for... well." He thought for a second, and changed his mind. "Nah, you dress better'n the working girls do, too. More classy." 

She pressed in and kissed his cheek. "You're a quick one," she said fondly, before she wrapped an arm around his. "Hell, we didn't even hear where the party was tonight," she complained mildly. She walked with him, though, glad she had kept him out of trouble. And kept her cover, though that was second to letting an innocent like Jesse get busted in this town over weed, when so much worse was going down. 

"Not Dom's, he's still hacked over having to replace the TV," Jesse said, grinning with delight over the compliment. "And it won't be down around Cha-Cha-Cha or 'Gato Negro, not when Tomas just lost. I'm not about to go all over the barrio lookin', either, less you're just dying for a party?" 

"Could care less about the party. So I guess that leaves me and you with some time on our hands... want to help me look over some mods for my engine?" 

"Seriously?" he blinked happy eyes at her at the idea of getting her time all to himself. 

"Serious." She led the way back to her place, which wasn't too far from Harry's, and brought him inside. She got food and drink for them both, then let him get lost in specs and kept up with him about it as he did, watching the way he went calm and easy as the engines and the computer pushed him into the closest thing to zen she'd seen.

She knew, deep inside, that come hell or high water, she was going to make sure Dom's crew, his team, wasn't going to get this boy hurt.

* * *

"Hey, Mia," Dinah called as she walked into the cafe side of the garage, seeing it -- as usual -- otherwise empty, and the noise from the garage side said Dom was pretty busy working. "You want a break from cooking for the pack of lunatics?" 

Caution made Mia search the other woman's face before she even started to give an answer. She saw what Dom did now, the faint signs of age around the eyes, and the signs of too much life on the wrong side of easy in them. Mia had relaxed a lot, as the weeks passed, and the only thing changing much was that more and more of the drivers were getting harassed by vice. Laurel didn't seem to have anything to do with that; she'd been spooked into running a few times when the cops were prowling.

"Sure... if you're insane enough to make that offer." 

Dinah smiled at her, shrugging a shoulder casually. "I used to cook for a crowd, some... and you guys have been good to me. I made enough last race to not worry about the grocery bill, I just need somewhere to work that isn't my dive of a... well, dive." 

"You do have a crackerbox of a place," Mia laughed. "Kitchen's yours." 

Dinah smiled a little wider as Mia laughed, and turned around to head back out. "Alright, then. Food might be on by the time you two decide to close this place dow--" they both heard a crash and Dom swearing a blue streak, his voice pissed but not hurt, and her lips twitched, "--and then again, it might be done before?" 

"Unless you want to cancel and stay here to go grab parts for him to speed that back up," Mia said in a knowing tone, wondering just what had gone wrong on the shop side. "Oh damn," she said as Letty's voice raised to match Dom's level. 

"Very damn," Dinah agreed, and shook her head. "Sounds like they're going to _need_ some soothing, by the time they get done with whatever just went to hell in there," she said quietly, her eyes amused. "If Leon's at the house, though, I'll kick him this way so he can go run for whatever they need." 

"Good idea." Mia watched the other racer leave, and tended to what she could, keeping out of Dom's space. It wasn't fifteen minutes later that Leon walked in and threw himself into the problem in the garage, showing that Laurel did know how to move a man who preferred to loaf when he could. 

Mia hid an impressed smile in checking some of the shelves, and decided that she would let everyone else be surprised when they finally made it home.

* * *

Dom looked at the lights on in the house as he pulled up at the head of his team, sliding into his spot in the driveway, and wondered. Sure, Jesse was home, but Jesse wasn't allowed near the kitchen unless he and Mia were home to put the fires out... Mia saw him tense, and reached over to pat his hand. "It's okay. Laur came by today, said she'd cook since she had the day off," Mia told him. 

"...yeah?" Dom shook his head as he killed the engine and flipped the brake on, then slid out. "Nice of her... little nuts, but real nice." 

"She's a nice girl, except for the screwball part where she wants to rev down a street with our crowd," Mia teased him. 

"You saying we're not nice, Mia?" he asked as he swung the front door open and headed inside, getting hit across the face with smells that were damn near like the days before their parents-- He shook his head, taking a long, slow breath of it. 

"I'm saying some of us might not be the best at nice," she teased him, a little more free with him while the crew hadn't yet descended on the house than she was once they were there.

Dinah poked her head out of the kitchen, smiling at them both. "Hey you two. Others on their way?" 

"Yeah, I told them to show up, we'd figure something out," Mia said with a playful smile on her lips. "Didn't want to ruin your surprise." 

Dom moved over to the woman standing in his house and wrapped an arm around her in greeting. "Hey... dinner smells great. Thanks -- you know, you didn't have to.." 

Dinah pressed into that masculine body, half hug that his arm around her was, and smiled up at him. "Was going stir crazy and didn't want take out again, so it's for me as much as the gang." 

Dom laughed, nodding. "Cooking for one's just using up leftovers, huh?" he asked with a half smile, looking down at the sparkle in her eyes. She smelled like spices and steam from the pots almost as much as the house did, and desire hit him low in the gut before he knew it, leaving him looking down at her with his eyes gone dark from want... 

She had opened her mouth to reply, but that look in his eyes, and him still so close... She could not help but wet her lips, tip of her tongue darting out just a little, her own eyes mirroring that raw need and want despite knowing he was Letty's man. 

"Hey, Laurel....think something's close to boiling over," Mia told her, breaking the spell between them.

//And boy is it boiling hard,// Dinah thought to herself. 

Dom let go of her as she spun and bolted for the kitchen, closing his eyes for a second to get himself under control. What was it about her, that she got so deep under his skin so easy? 

Dinah knew that she had to walk a tight line with Dom. He made her hunger for something she hadn't had since she...no, she wasn't wasting time on _him_. He was with Letty, and she didn't play the other girl for anyone. She focused on finishing the meal as the crowd showed up, getting her desires in check. 

"So who's or---whoa, what's _that_?" came Vince's startled voice. 

That made Dinah smile, glad she and Oll...//dammit, stop thinking about him just because you can't have _him_.// Cooking was a hobby to her, and she quickly got it all ready for the table, calling out over the noise of the whole team out there, "Mia, get them to get cleaned up!"

"You heard her... Leon, get those greasy hands off the table!" 

Letty came in to help her get the table set up, and looked at her for a couple of minutes as she grabbed the plates. "Thanks," she finally said softly. "This's... good for Dom. For all of them." 

Dinah read the younger woman closely, and nodded slowly. "I like you all. Don't want things to fall apart because someone's too tense." 

"I... like you, too. Which is weird -- normally most girls that come around, I chase then off. But you're all right. You're--" Letty struggled for words, trying to think through this one, "not like them. You actually... you fit alright." 

"Letty...you and Dom..." Dinah gave a rueful smile and a shrug. "Every girl wants to be where you are, but I'm not the kind to move in unless the spot's all the way open. Would rather just be friends." //No matter how much I want him.// "Now... anything happens to change that, and..." She shrugged, letting Letty see that if she stepped out of the way, she'd have some competition. But until that point, Letty had nothing to worry about.

"Alright," Letty nodded, picked up the plates, and went in to finish getting the table set. The blonde finished what she needed to, and carried the dishes to the table with Mia's quick help, and took a seat near Jesse. 

Everyone sat still for a few seconds, then Dom growled a quiet curse and reached out for the closest spoon -- holding his other hand up in the next second. "Yeah, I know. I know." He dropped his hand, and the spoon, and started to talk quietly. "Benedic, Domine, dona tua quae de largitate sumus sumpturi. Amen." 

He saw Laurel murmuring the prayer with him, almost silently, from memory. 

//She's Catholic?// Dom kept the thought to himself as everyone echoed him on the Amen, and then they dug in like the pack of half-starved wolves they were.

Dinah felt that she was among family, like a distant cousin, as the boys remembered to thank her. Even Vince complimented her cooking, while Mia asked for pointers. Jesse was as cheerfully ga-ga over her cooking as he was over anything else that caught his attention, while Dom.... Dom just devoted himself to savoring the meal, looking over his fork at her. "Please, give her those pointers? Mia's a good cook, but... this is great." 

Dinah smiled, almost shyly. "Too many years of cooking gets you this," she said to downplay it. "But thank you." 

"You're welcome," he smiled, and went back to eating. 

Letty eyed the exchange a little uneasily, but then Laurel was chatting up Leon over one of his hare-brained ideas. As much as some girls got on her nerves, this one seemed like a good match to them all. Even Jesse was a little more calm with her, and Letty'd forgive a lot for that. And for the honesty.

* * *

Dinah was aching to race... she'd always been an adrenaline junkie, and running this close to these packs of twenty-somethings that practically lived on it hadn't done anything to help that. She'd been picking up quick, early races every so often anyway, but tonight... She made it to the meet-up early, and found the ref just as quick, slipping him the cash she'd been hoarding away. His eyes widened at the amount. "You're wanting the big-time this time, huh, Laur? You know Dom called me, he's planning on running tonight..."

Her eyes widened with almost shock at the chance, then narrowed in purely predatory glee. "He's got himself a race then."

"Awright," he nodded warily at the look on her face and tucked the money away. "He'll trail in late, like always."

"Flashy in a quiet way." She could appreciate that. It reminded her of Barry... and that thought made her turn away and move to her car.

The ref looked after her for a sec, then turned towards the next prospective contestant of the night. A quick word about who was racing, and the boy backed all the way off, saving his money for another day. He got mocked by everyone around for it... but none of them stepped up to put money on tonight's race, either.

Everyone knew there was trouble when Letty's purple Nissan came screeching up from the wrong direction to be coming from the garage, and she parked up with Hector's people.

Dinah noticed it with a frown, especially when she got fairly friendly with one of the barrio boys the instant Dom's car could be heard purring insistently at the back of the crowd. Dom's car, and Mia and Vince and Leon's in the wedge behind him, but Letty'd come in alone... and when Dom slid out of his car it wasn't hard to see that he wasn't happy. At least, not to her eyes, not any more. Coiled tension all in his shoulders, aggression in the way he slammed the door shut. 

//What happened?// She tried to catch Mia's eyes, letting her concern for her friends show. 

Mia came right over to her, shaking her head in frustration. "Hey Laur. God, when they fight..." 

"At least he will get a good race tonight." She smiled just enough that Mia knew who was the only other car in tonight's run. "But damn, the timing sucks." 

"--At least it's you," Mia nodded, wondering at the timing that had Laurel on the line _tonight_ , of all nights... "Hate when they get like this," she added after a second. "Dom was being... really Dom with some chick that brought her car in, and Letty got pissed; he actually snarled back, and it just got worse from there -- she started out of the garage and he told her not to let the door hit her on the way out. I'm not repeating what she said back." 

Dinah wondered at that. She'd made her interest clear to Letty, as well as her promise not to poach. She pushed it away though, and moved to look Dom over as a competitor. "Willing to make a private wager, Dom?"

"What kind of stakes are you thinking about, Laur?" he asked, his head tipping to the side in curiosity. 

"Small. Just something to the side of the actual purse." She flashed him her dazzling smile. "Say an afternoon of your work on my car if I win against something like that if you take it?" She had re-tuned a lot of things on her car to Jesse's suggestions, but Dom had a magic touch about engines. 

Dom thought about it for a little bit, the sharpness in his eyes saying he was considering what he'd ask from her in return stakes. "Alright... dinner, just you and me, your cooking." 

She gave an exaggerated look of relief at everyone around. "I'm tempted to let him win, guys, to have use of a kitchen again." They all laughed, giving her a chance to look at him, eyes dark with interest. "Deal." 

"Deal," he nodded, shrugging a shoulder. "What can I say, sometimes I'm easy." 

"Careful, Dom, or I might just test that." She smiled at him with a friendly tease in her voice before heading to her car. 

Dom looked after her, grinning a little to himself, then headed back for his car. 

The call came that LAPD was tied down, and the two racers made for their starting line with the unique flair that was so much an individual part of each of them. 

Dom idled his car at the starting line, his eyes watching the ref intently, just waiting, one hand checking over his controls quickly, easily... The ref's hands dropped, and the Mazda under him came off the line with a roar echoed by the engine beside him. No sense in looking, in doing anything but using everything he had to coax more speed out of his car, not racing her as much as pushing himself. 

Dinah let the flag falling push her into that critical ability so many fighters of her ranking had, that of focusing all the details into a background with only the key ones at her full awareness. The Mustang was an extension of her body, responding on a level that was near reflexive. She knew this race would be close, and would not be who punched first, but who handled the precious boost the best. 

Dom let the way the world blurred at this kind of speed wash down through him, hands working the car with every bit of his concentration, watching the line coming closer until... //Now.// 

Dinah only barely knew that she had punched her system in the same moment as her opponent. Fine control now wasting nothing by having to fight the car for a straight line meant it was right to the wire, with several cell phones clicking the picture of them crossing, his car barely over the line before hers touched it too. 

Dom brought his car down, back around to the line, and killed the engine to slide out, heading for the ref. "What's the camera say?" 

Dinah wasn't far behind him, ducking in under his arm to get closer to the ref. 

"We had to check three shots but looks like you, Dom. Not by much either. She's pushing for street master!" 

Dom laughed, his head tipping back as he did. "Are you, Laur?" 

The little blonde let out a happy laugh. "Maybe you needed to be put on your toes," she purred happily. 

"You think I need someone to keep me on my toes?" Dom asked, his head tipped to look down at her. 

She looked up at him with a long, lazy appraisal that stripped him to his core in her eyes before shrugging. "Maybe you just inspire people to try." 

Dom's eyes darkened at the way she looked at him, giving her a long, raking look back that told her just how good he thought she looked. "That's a new one," he said with a shrug, "--well, 'cept for Jesse, and that's not me, it's my garage." 

She laughed, then looked at everyone to see where Letty was -- only to find that she had cleared out already with her new toy. She gave Dom a questioning look. "Got plans now?" 

He reached out a causal hand to take his money from the ref, then shook his head. "No, not really... See if anyone else is going to take advantage of the cops being tied up, maybe...Why? Have something more interesting in mind?" 

The look on her face did not quite tell the world she could think of something for them both, but he knew it from her eyes. "I think I need to save up for any more betting. So I might just ease on out."

"Mmm... you might have a point there. And I'm not planning on running again tonight, so..." 

"So you can both get your cars off my lines, thanks," the ref said, "cops are still tied down with a chase across town, we're gonna run while the running's good." 

Dinah laughed at that and vaulted over to her car, sliding in smooth. "Follow you?" she yelled to Dom. 

"You're the one with the ideas," he yelled right back at her as he slid into the cup of the seat, waving a stick-around at Vince. 

She laughed, feeling far younger than she was, and a little high on life right now. Maybe she should have stayed to find more of the drug players, but her body was thrumming with energy. She peeled out, leading to his garage so he could ditch his car safe. 

Dom followed her, knowing every twist and turn of this piece of road enough to come up close behind her, playing with her. She was not skittish about playing with him, their cars almost tagging, but never actually touching. Once they'd dropped off his car, he slid into her passenger seat and waited.

She took off for the garage she kept this car in, riding just at the right tolerance for breaking speed limits without pulling heat. When they got there, and she pulled up next to her bike, her look challenged him to try and decline the ride that would have him pressed snug to her curves. 

"...for a crotch rocket, that's not bad," Dom rumbled, eying the bike.

She eyed it ruefully. "My last bike was better. It had an accident." She mounted and let him slide on after she kick started it.

Dom slid on behind her, sliding up right behind her and wrapping his arms close around her waist as he did, hooking his chin over her shoulder.

She let the feel of his weight settle into her nerves, knowing her bikes even better than she knew cars. When she was sure of him, she took off, risking tight turns and narrow passings to get them back to her place.

Dom shifted his weight when she did, helping her with the turns, and feeling every shift of her body sitting inside his thighs, tucked against his chest, against his arms...

When she did pull in at her place, she took a moment to stretch back against him, reinforcing just how firm but inviting she could be.

Dom let his arms tighten around her, then let go to slide back off the bike, taking a couple of easy breaths to hide just how much the ride and that _stretch_ had done.

She guided him inside, her senses flicking over her place quickly, but not without him noting it. She then turned and locked the door before looking up at him.

Dom looked around the place for a minute, just checking it over for a second, then he stepped up to her, just looking down for a moment before one of his hands came up to cup around her cheek. That was all the answer she needed, moving fully into his space, tilting her head up to ask a kiss from him silently. She slid one hand up behind his neck, and the other along his chest.

Dom wrapped his hands down under the curves of her thighs to lift her up enough to kiss her easily, pushing into her hands on him, her touch like flame as he licked his way into her mouth. She moaned softly, opening her mouth to let his tongue explore. She deepened the kiss, very much a woman who knew her own mind about loving.

Dom could more than work with that, God could he work with a woman that kissed like this...

Her fingers rather insistently found their way under his shirt, letting her feel that skin that had tantalized her imagination since she first saw him, hot and solid with muscle under it. He felt so good under her hands, solid and real like she hadn't had in -- she wasn't thinking about that. 

He pulled her up closer against his body as he kissed her deeper, over and over again, drinking the quiet moan out of her mouth.... When she felt like she couldn't breathe she broke the kiss, only to eagerly nip and lick and suck at his throat and the edges of his shoulders she could get to outside the shirt. 

Dom stretched back, letting her have his throat, his shoulders... and remembered where the couch was on instinct and backed up for it, holding her against him. She murmured softly at his choice, but it was incoherent, lost in the fulfillment of too many nights' desires to be able to taste him, kiss him, feel him. 

Dom dropped, pulling her in against him, so tight he could feel every seam in her leathers almost pressed into his skin and his hands slid up her back in a long, easy stroke until one of them tangled in her hair and pulled her head back so he could kiss her again. 

She gasped softly at the feel of his hand in her hair, before she met his lips, tongue questing against his, tasting him now, wanting so much more. She could not stop moving, pressing into the heat of his body, back into his hold on her, just moving with the pulse of her desires. 

Dom growled, low in his throat, and broke the kiss to dip his head and suck at the line of her throat, the hand not in her hair flattened at the small of her back, holding her in tight against him. 

She responded with a moan, deep and husky, before deliberately grinding her hips down against his. "So good..." 

"Just getting started," Dom said as his hips bucked up at the way she moved, then started kissing his way down the other side of her throat until he ran into her shirt and had to let go of his grip on her hair to start working on sliding the damned clothing off. 

She arched and moved, letting him get the shirt up...and froze a little as almost all of her scars became visible to him. She watched him, her mouth tensing with worry while he looked at her. 

Dom's eyes went flat as he saw the scarring all over her upper body //who the fuck hurt her this bad?// -- then his arms tightened around her at the look on her face. He pulled her in tighter against his chest, one hand cupped close around the back of her neck as he tried to take that fear he could see all over her out of her, kissing down along her cheek, other hand running down her side. 

She relaxed then; it was always a risk with a new man, when they saw what she so carefully hid from the world. She hadn't thought Dom would turn away, but... She kissed him fully and moved for them both, until it was driving her insane to not have her skin pressed to his, to have that fabric in the way between them, and she impatiently tugged at his own shirt, pulling it up and off.

Dom moved, shifting to help her drag his shirt off and get it dropped _somewhere_ , his hands running up over her body, stroking and petting up over her ribs and the sides of her breasts, letting how she felt moving against him distract him away from the dark, bitter anger that someone had hurt her so badly. She felt too good -- all hot skin and hard muscle and tight, full breasts pressed in against his chest -- to get distracted from her right now. 

She pushed down his body just enough to get her mouth on his chest, tongue swirling against small scars, even teeth biting gently at his skin. He was gorgeous, defined by his life, and so _solid_. Hard with muscle in all of the best ways, all working-man strength in him... 

Dom rolled his chest up into her mouth, his hands sliding to the undersides of her breasts, cupping as he ran a thumb over one nipple -- and he grinned in pleasure as her breath caught and she shuddered. Beautiful, sensitive woman... damn, but they were both going to enjoy this. 

Her moans came with every new touch from him, and just as much from feeling him respond to her, feeling the way he shuddered under her mouth, pushed into her hand... While her mouth worked, she curved away from him to get one hand on the fly of his pants, fingers nimbly opening the button. 

Dom just kept petting her, seeing how wild he could drive her just with his hands, and hooked the back of a heel under the frame of the couch, dragging that boot off, then the other. God, how she looked crouching up like that, her mouth on his chest and her hair falling halfway down the arch of her back, all bare skin shining in the half light... 

"Like what you see? Or what you feel?" she asked, knowing that look on any man's face. Her features lit with a minx's smile, all desire and promise of more to come as she succeeded in getting his jeans fully open. A single finger ran the line of his cock in their cotton briefs beneath the open denim, and she smiled a little more. 

"Both," he told her, low and rough -- then took a long breath at the way she touched him, the way she looked with that gorgeous, hungry smile on her face. "And 'like' is... pretty mild." 

"I like what I see," she purred quietly, smiling up at him. "About as much as I like breathing. And the touch." She curved her hand along his shaft, firm pressure with a knowing slide, the cotton all that separated them.   
.   
"Good," Dom told her -- and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck again, pulling her up enough to kiss her again, deep as she would let him take it, rocking up into her touch as he did. 

She never stopped touching him, and she didn't fight the kiss in the slightest. She was on top, she wasn't trapped, and that hold on her neck felt so good... _he_ felt so good. 

He kissed her, hard and hungry and with all of his focus, even as he moved with the slide of her hand, loving the way those hard, long fingers wrapped stroked along him... but she was far too dressed, now, and his free hand slid to work on her leathers. 

She stopped touching him long enough to let him get at her zippers and then she was the one pushing her boots off, catching them one after the other with her toes. Getting out of the pants took a little twist and rise, but she let the panties go with them, wanting to be bare to his touch. She could not help the marks of her abuse, but she distracted him from them by tugging at the waistband of his pants, getting him to move and help her. 

Anger pulsed at the back of his brain again at seeing that she was scarred _all_ over, but she was moving and tugging at his pants and yeah, he could help her with that. He had to let go of her for a second to move, brace and twist and shove them down, watching her expression change where she was arched up over him. 

She watched his skin show itself to her eyes, looking at him with the burning hunger of a woman too long denied. So damn long since she'd felt like going to the trouble, and now... so good, and so worth it. Her hands played over his flat stomach, traced along the sharpness of his hips, before she pressed close to him again, drinking from his mouth and moaning just to feel how they matched skin to skin. 

//So wet,// flared through Dom's mind as she pressed that snug up against him, blazing hot, slick softness of her folds and her curls pressed all along his cock, solid pressure of her nipples against his chest from how tight she'd locked her body to his, and he kissed her back, eating at her mouth all over again, his hands running down to curl around her hips again. 

Soft, needy sounds escaped the kiss, as she began to rock along that hard shaft, feeling the slide of him along her folds... She wanted him, wanted far more. Her gut instincts told her he was clean, even as she knew she ought to be getting protection, at least for his piece of mind, but god he felt so damned good like that. 

Dom hissed as she moved, slid so fucking perfect all along him... He let her move how she wanted--couldn't think to do anything else, even while part of his brain yelled that his wallet was on the floor--and licked into her mouth, his hands caressing over her. 

She could not have babies, and if he had anything, they'd already come in too close a contact to worry now.... She cupped both of her hands on the backs of his shoulders and slid up just a little, hips rocking with tiny little moves, before she slid back down and took him into her with a sharp, hungry cry that broke their kiss. 

"Fuck, Laur, you..." Dom felt himself buck, his hands tightening to pull her down more, and he took a couple of quick breaths to pull a little calm. "Lot of trust in your drugs?" he asked as he rolled his hips, his eyes dark.

She took his hand, moved it to caress a low, wicked scar along the curve of her stomach. The turmoil in her eyes said more than the words that failed her, and she closed them, letting what he felt like overpower the grief that still welled up in her at the thought. 

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," Dom said quickly, feeling like a complete heel, and his arms slid up around her ribs, holding her tight against him, hands spread over her shoulder blades to hug her closer, hips moving in long, slow, easy moves. 

"Long time ago, now." She opened her eyes to look at him with want and need all over her face. "You like yourself too much to not stay clean, and I can't and you feel so damn good inside me like that..." 

Dom kissed her -- lightest kiss he'd given her yet, but it lingered even as he moved -- and when he pulled back from the kiss he was smiling at her. "You're right. I do, and I am... and _damn_ but you feel like heaven." He didn't take chances with Letty getting pregnant, not ever. 

"I know," she purred wickedly, before she leaned in to place kisses along his jaw, loving the feel of his chest rubbing her nipples, the way his hands kept them tight together, and the power of his hips when he met each of her motions. 

"Do you know how gorgeous you are, too?" 

She laughed softly, grinning down at him. "Honey, I've been making men make mistakes all my life, because I do know that." She ran her tongue along the outer part of his ear, purring as she did. 

"Mmm... Yeah, I just bet you have," Dom said as he bit lightly at her jaw, hand sliding up into her hair again... as his other hand ran down her side, then in along the line of her hip. 

"Oh, yes...." She rocked forward a little, anticipating his touch where she most wanted it. 

"Yeah? This what you want, gorgeous? Just like... this?" he asked as his fingers slid in, stroking down her curls until he could feel that tight, hard knot just under one of the calluses on his fingers.

"Yeah, baby....want that touch," she panted, moving against him.

"Good," he purred, low in his throat and stroked her again, feeling the slide of his cock against the backs of his fingers as she moved, or he moved... 

She writhed for him, gripping him tight inside her, muscles rippling and flexing as she gave herself over to pleasure alone, braced up over him, hands holding onto his shoulders hard. 

Dom purred, low noise in the back of his throat, feeling her moving more than he was seeing it, loving the way she used her body like that, so damn gorgeous... God. He was so not going to last, not with her moving like this. Not with the way he could feel her shaking. 

She threw her head back, crying out in that softened Gotham accent of hers. Her whole body shuddered, surrounding him with tight waves of motion as she let the adrenaline and the need and everything about the way he felt under her break her . Dom swore, fought his body, and bucked up into her, losing all of the battle for control. 

She leaned down to him on his last thrust, panting softly as the last waves of her pleasure made her feel boneless over him. Dom shifted, slowly dropping down on his back on the couch, pulling her down with him. 

She made a soft purring sigh and snuggled into his hold, resting there for the moment. When she became aware of the couch surface touching them both, she smiled, nuzzling against his chest. "I do have a bed."

"Mmm... you do? Might need to move there in few..." his voice was light, lazy easy slide as he held her.

"I'd like that. More room for what I want to do to you, Dominic Toretto," she said with a smile that was just as lazy as his voice. 

"Mm... there is no way I am going to say no to _that_ ," he purred, stretching under her--and then moved, twisting to stand up with her still in his arms. 

She gave a little yip at that, tensing all over before she relaxed again. Then she just settled into his arms a little better and showed him where to take her. 

Dom just carried her to the bed, his hands petting down over her once they were under the sheets. He shifted up on an arm, his fingers tracing over one of the scars, carefully light. "Tell me the son of a bitch is dead?" 

She couldn't see him for a moment, only seeing the anguish on Ollie's face as he held her outside that place, waiting for help he wasn't sure was going to come in time. Then her sight cleared and she nodded. "Dead, out of my reach." 

Dom curved his body closer around her, holding her against him as he kissed her again, deep and sure and slow, pulling her back away from that again. 

She responded and let him take her away from the memories that haunted her, as he was more than willing to do.

* * *

Dom slid off the back of Dinah's bike in front of the garage, and left a kiss against her throat as he did. 

She gave him a rich smile and blew him one before racing off, which left him to walk in and find Mia watching him, eyebrow arched. 

"That sounded like a bike," she said, half amused, half-worried. 

His lips quirked as he shrugged a shoulder. Everyone knew he couldn't much stand the things, but having her curled in front of him had made up for a lot. "Yeah. Not bad for a crotch rocket, either." 

"Not enough to just race her, Dom?" 

Dom blinked, then laughed quietly at his sister's bluntness. "It made a nice start..." 

Mia wondered what this was going to do to the way their team worked, her lips a little pursed. There hadn't ever been a girl that was tolerated near them for this long, but Laurel was. Yet Letty wasn't usually out of Dom's bed for long. 

"What, Mia?" 

"Just don't want to see things get ugly. I like her, Jesse likes her." 

"I like her too. It'll be okay, Mia. She's... solid." 

Mia nodded, accepted that, and went back to work on her homework until someone showed up at the cafe.

* * *

Dinah sailed into Harry's, smiling like a supermodel and shining like a diamond. "Morning, Harry, how's it going?" 

"Not as good as your night must have been," Harry said, teasing her. "Had to find something to distract you from losing to Torreto?" 

"Mmm.... maybe I did," Dinah purred, still smiling. 

Harry had to laugh, even as he envied whoever got her eye on him. "You missed a decent second race." 

"Did I? Who took it?" 

He told her who had run, which kid had blown his shot, and who had taken it, trading her the gossip while they got ready to take money off the kids who wanted to be like Dom--and most of them had gotten revved way too high by the races last night. It was going to be a really _good_ day.

* * *

Dinah wandered the street, laughing and joking with a lot of the people she had met. Hector was smiling, trying to lure her down to his barrio after the race, while Johnny tried hard not to admit the Anglo woman was damned hard to ignore. She looked over a lot of cars, and no one noticed she put her hands in her pockets between inspecting engines.

She flirted back with Hector, made a couple of low comments Johnny's way, went over and spent time talking to absolutely everyone, flittering all through the crowd up until the minute the lineup of the race was set and half of everyone bailed into their cars to go block off the strip.

Then she did make her way to Dom's side. If he thought she looked vaguely satisfied, he chocked it up the fact Leon was racing and had a strong shot of winning.

He slid a hand down against her waist, fingers settling into her belt-loops, and leaned back on his car to watch. Jesse was bounding off the walls next to them, so eager to see how his mods held up this time that Vince finally reached out and grabbed his shoulders, making him stay still.

Dinah did smile at that, and snuggled back into Dom's hold on her.

Dom just purred to have her there, and when Leon hit the line with more than three-quarters of his car ahead of his competition he let go enough to whoop with pleasure and hold her tighter.

Dinah was cheering as loud as he was, praising Leon's driving and Jesse's genius. This night had been great, and the perfect cap was going to be found in Dom's arms later, she promised herself.

Dom lifted his head, calling out that the party was on him, but they weren't all hitting the house, his neighbors'd kill him. That he had other reasons for not wanting the crowd at his place... didn't really need to be said.

Dinah hid her smile as she went with him to his car. Inside it, she turned to watch him. She would be leaving soon, if her work tonight panned out for the DEA as she hoped. That put a lump in her throat, but she knew the rules. Dom worked the wrong side of the line, and he was a civilian. She'd make him his dinner soon, and then fade out of his life. No doubt Letty would come right back into it.

Dom looked over at her as he drove, wondering what was going on that she looked... almost sad. "Laur?"

She smiled to dispel the image of thoughtfulness. "Do you know how gorgeous you are?"

"Isn't that my line?"

"Only because you beat me to it most nights."

That made him laugh, shaking his head, "You ought to hear it."

"So should you, Dom."

* * *

Mia looked up as Laurel came in, smiling at her. "Hey, what's up? You're here early..."

"Need to ask a favor." Dinah looked around to be sure none of the others were lingering. "Can I borrow the kitchen, and get you to get the boys chased off for a few hours?"

"Wanting to work off that bet you made the other night?" Mia asked, her eyes bright, but she nodded a second later. "Yeah, I can handle it. Leon's chasing that girl from over in Long Beach anyway. Jesse and Vince and I'll go out to eat... somewhere."

"Thanks Mia."

"No problem," Mia said with a smile, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder affectionately.

The blonde returned it just before the guys crashed in loudly. Jesse kept talking about some kind of tryouts and Leon was scoffing at him.

"What's going on?" Dinah asked, watching the two of them curiously.

Leon pointed at Jesse, rolling his eyes. "He thinks he can go join the Titans because there's open tryouts!"

Dinah _blinked_ , cocking her head to the side. "Yeah, Jesse? What happened that the Titans are moving out here, I didn't think they ever came off the East Coast..." //If they had, my boyo might've been okay.//

"It's not the real ones," Jesse answered her. "The movie star one, and the flame girl. Couple others."

//Changeling, Flamebird, who else?// Dinah wondered, but set that aside for later as she leaned across the counter. "What were you thinking you'd do, Jesse?" she asked, honestly interested and not bullshitting him.

Leon muttered about crazy ideas and wandered over to get a sandwich.

"Thought maybe I could be like Cyborg and be the smart one."

Dinah smiled, looking at him affectionately. "You just might be, at that, Jesse." 

"Oh, _Laur_ , come off it," Mia said, all rough affection in her voice even as she gave Jesse a long look. "How long do you think you'd be able to pull that off, Jesse?"

"I could do it! Haven't been smoking weed hardly at all in weeks. And they need fast vehicles!"

"Why don't you go, then, Jesse?" Dinah asked. "I mean, really, Mia, it's not like it could hurt..."

"Except the part where he is a user, and his dad's in jail," Mia pointed out.

"If we judged people on family, everyone'd be in jail," Dinah said, but backed off. The fact that she'd had every reason in the world to know that the Titans wouldn't be as hard on that as Mia thought they would didn't mean Laurel Drake did.

Mia shrugged. "The spandex crowd has no time for our kind."

//You're wrong, Mia. You're wrong, but I can't prove it like this.//

Jesse sighed heavy. "I would, but you are right. They don't like plain people. Maybe if I was a Martian or something."

Leon snorted, "You're space cadet enough already, Jesse, without adding that. Though it might help _explain_ you..."

That set the boys back into bickering, and Mia had to get things done. Dinah was frustrated... but what could she do? She couldn't break her cover now.

* * *

With the house cleared out, Dinah had been able to concentrate on a good home-cooked meal for two. She had opted for Italian, and chosen to make her sauce from scratch even if she did go ahead and buy the pasta. She only had so much time, after all, but Dom came home from the garage to the smell of basil and tomatoes and chicken, all mixing heavenly.

Dom padded in quietly, just walking into the kitchen and up behind the tiny little blonde, and his hands slipped down to her waist. She leaned back into that hold contentedly, murmuring a quiet hello. She kept stirring the sauce, though, making sure it was ready.

"Mmm... and I thought dinner the other day smelled great. God... I haven't had a from-scratch sauce in..." he swallowed, and nuzzled against her hair, "years."

She let the spoon rest and turned to nuzzle him at that shift in how he spoke. "Glad I decided to try my hand at it again."

He wrapped his arms around her a little tighter, and dipped his head to kiss her hello. She returned the kiss before turning all the burners off and reaching for the plates to fill them. "Go clean up, Dom, while I set the food out."

Dom just nodded and turned to go up and get clean... matter of fact, he just might have time to -- nah. Shower with her, later.

Dinah hummed to herself, setting two plates close together. She poured wine into two glasses, hoping he didn't mind, but it would go better than beer with what she'd cooked. He came down a few minutes later in clean clothes that didn't get a whole lot of use -- but the trouble she'd gone to deserved him showing up in decent clothing.

She paused in what she was doing and straightened up to fully appreciate the view. "So handsome," she told him, her voice a low purr.

"Hey, I have to match you somehow," Dom replied as he moved over to shift her chair out. He looked at the wine glasses, head tipped to the side curiously, not recognizing them. "Where did you find those?"

"Cabinet above the fridge." She took her seat, smiling at him. "Figured I would make this as much like eating out as I could so you got something worth the bet."

"I got that with your company, Laur," Dom replied, smiling over at her.

She looked pleased by the compliment, and dropped her eyes a little. "Do you make every girl feel like this, Dom?"

Dom shrugged a shoulder, amused at the question as he shook his head. "Not really all that often. You're different. Letty'd laugh at me if I tried, Mia's my sister."

"You're quite different too, Dom." She covered his hand with hers a moment. //So easy to fall...god I hope he doesn't fall too. I'm going to have to leave...//

He lifted his fingers against hers enough to squeeze, and grinned at her, letting the stillness stretch out between them. She pushed the lump of knowing this would end soon away, resolving to enjoy this night. "Grace?"

"Was hoping I could trick you into reaching first," Dom admitted, still smiling at her. "You want to?"

Dinah took a deep breath as she brought her hands together. She decided to say it in the Irish she had learned as a girl for rare Drake reunions. Dom listened, quiet and curious, and echoed the Amen a breath after hers. "That wasn't Latin...?" he asked as he picked up his fork to take a bite.

She dimpled with an impish smile. "Irish. Catholics in one part of the family, and all as Irish as you can ask for."

Dom chuckled, "That'd explain it, yeah." He took that first bite.. and let her see every bit of the pleasure that slid through his veins at the taste of the food. She had waited to see if he'd like it as much as Ollie had...and the thought didn't hurt so much. She took her own bite, and made a soft noise of pleasure. 

"I had forgotten just how tasty I find Italian." She said it with a hint of teasing his way.

"Really? Guess you needed reminding, then..."

"I might need reminded more, later."

"You won't by morning..."

She met his eyes, promising him silently that she'd hold him to that. He just smiled back at her, slow and easy, and took another bite of the chicken. "Did you get _anything_ else done, today?"

"No. I owed you a dinner, and I always pay my bets in full."

"...I'd say," Dom purred quietly. "Slow damn day at the shop, too."

She sipped her wine, and then gave him a saucy look. "At least you shouldn't be too tired for later."

"...we'll see who winds up tired," Dom told her.

* * *

The small blonde was sated, and thought her lover was too, but her hand kept exploring, caressing gently over his skin. Dom petted down her back, lazy and gentle, and held her against his body. God, but she felt good... this felt good.

Slowly, her hand traced down intimate lines, caressing along his thighs, back up, fingers delicately touching sensitive spots.

"Mm..." despite how sated he was, the slide of her hand never failed to make him move, shift into her touches and wrap his other arm around her a little closer

She folded her hand around his sac gently, just massaging in the light manner some men enjoyed when they weren't quite ready for sex. One finger caressed the delicate skin behind the sac as well, so lightly.

Dom loved what she did to him, how her hand felt that good... but a frisson of tension ran down his spine as her fingers slipped back further than he could handle, his hips twisting away from her touch.

She stilled instantly, then shifted to kiss him, her hand coming back forward. "Sorry," she whispered after the kiss. "Some like it..."

Dom wrapped his arms around her, kissing her all over again, leg tangling up around hers, and didn't stop kissing her for a while. "It's okay. It's alright. You're right. Some do."

She pressed close, still just petting and stroking. Sex was good, but to find a man willing to keep touching after... It felt like a touch of heaven.

Dom petted down her back again, and took a long, slow breath as he decided to explain to her. "I... spent two years in Lompoc. It..."

She settled close to him, hand coming up to rest over his heart. Somehow it felt wrong for him to have a record, but she listened. He laid his hand over hers from behind her back, and held on a little closer. "I... Dad was a real racer. Coming up in the circuit. I was part of his crew."

She made a small nod against his chest, fingers twining with his as she listened, waiting for him.

"He was winning in Palmdale. Last curve, racing pretty tight but he was _winning_. The guy he was racing... clipped his back bumper. Sent him slamming up into the wall doing a good buck-twenty, and by the time the car quit rolling it was in flames. I _heard_ him screaming, Laur. I know I did... but the autopsy said he died instantly, and the crew said it was me screaming."

She swallowed hard against that feeling, knowing the man most important to you was dead, right there in front of you... She pressed her face into his shoulder to hide her eyes and to show her support.

Dom's hand slid up into her hair, holding her face against his shoulder as he shuddered and kept talking. "I... went back to the garage all that week-- didn't have anywhere else I wanted to be. And... the guy that had hit him came walking up. I... don't know if he said anything. I don't remember. I just -- had the wrench in my hand, and... I swung at him. I didn't mean to keep hitting him... but..."

"Oh baby." Tears were wetting his shoulder as she cried for him, for such a human mistake of emotion. 

"By the time they got me off, I... couldn't swing anymore, and..." His voice struggled for even, for control, and mostly succeeded. "Kenny takes the bus to work every morning. He's a janitor at one of the high schools."

She shifted up over him, looking down at him with so much furious emotion in her eyes. "For that? They expected sanity in the face of losing your father? Oh Dom!" She leaned in and held onto him head back on his shoulder. 

Dom shuddered, arms going harder around her at the shock and the anger in her voice, the... understanding, there, in the way she snarled for his sake... Only his crew had ever really understood – that she did... "I almost killed him. He has permanent brain damage. I was lucky it wasn't longer -- if the crew hadn't taken up for me... But the tracks banned me. The streets are as close as I can get."

She swallowed hard against her anger. She wasn't as noble as Kal or as idealistic as Bruce. She had seen things, done things that left her hands as stained in blood as Oliver's had been. While she would not choose to step over the line, not as first course, she did understand passion crimes. "You couldn't have been very old." //You're still not all that old...//

"Seventeen," he answered with a slow shrug, petting down her hair.

She shuddered at that, holding on closer. "I was running the streets by then, but...that's not adult."

"Tell that to the LA court system, would you?" Dom said darkly. "You know how many of the kids we run with get tried for shit as adults?"

Dinah made herself a promise to talk to Changeling when she could, to see if there was a way to help fix that. Especially if there was racial profiling happening too. "It's wrong."

"Yeah. It is. What else is new, Laur?"

She bit her lip to keep from saying anything Black Canary had to say on the matter. "Since I can't fix it, let me make you feel more relaxed?" She began kissing at his chest. 

Dom sighed quietly, running his hands over her again, letting her mouth take his mind away from desert-summer heat and the blaze of the flames, from blood all over his hands and the floor and nothing but blank, cold concrete and steel -- and he twisted up onto his shoulder, pinning her down against the bed to kiss her desperately.

She held nothing back from him in their lovings, letting him know how good every touch felt, how much she loved touching and tasting him, letting him push her more and more towards the edge. He'd learned not to trap her hands, not to hold the wrists, not if he was on top...those scars were always reminder enough.

Dom kept himself leashed, kept his control tight as he ever had... until he just couldn't take any more and knew she was close enough that this time... "Laur, baby, now.."

Her body arched into his, soft cries of his name breaking from her lips at the same time. He broke with her, low growl of her name against her skin, and held her tight against him as he shook.

She pressed into his firm hold, before wrapping her arms around his shoulders and holding him lovingly. "So good to me."

"Wrong way around, again..." Dom told her tiredly, feeling her free one hand long enough to pull the blankets up over them.

She purred and helped settle the blankets. When he thought about shifting, started to move his weight, she held him closer, wanting the solidity of his body on hers. It felt so right, cradled under the bulk of his body with her own curved around him.... Dom settled, letting her decide. If she wanted all his weight on her, he'd let her. It felt good to have her right there under him, anyway.

* * *

Dinah had been edgy all day. A man at the race the night before had seemed familiar, and even though she was sure he hadn't seen her, it had cut across her nerves. She had finally begged off from Harry's as it was so slow, and headed for Dom's place. Dom and Mia weren't there when she got there; but the boys were, Jesse playing some video game with Leon and Vince with his head bent over the guitar, picking out a tune that was only in his head, yet.

"Hey, you're early... they oughta be home soon. I swear, LA's dead."

"Harry sure was cussing." She prowled the living room, looking at knickknacks and pictures, not settling at all. 

"Don't think anyone brought their car into the garage all day," Jesse agreed, hands still flickering over the game's controls. "Dom finally kicked us all out." 

She made a noise of agreement, unable to settle. She listened idly to Vince's tune, but when it stopped, she really didn't notice it. 

Vince had finally given up on the guitar -- he couldn't concentrate on it with Laur wandering around like she wanted to take somebody's head off -- and gotten up. He went and got a drink, then came back in, moving over towards her, just intending to put a hand on her arm, try and settle her down a little.

Pure instinct followed, the kind Dinah hated but she was given to using. The moment he touched her, she pivoted, grasped the wrist, twisted and pulled with force. Vince had no chance to resist as she tossed and pinned him, controlling that arm the whole time. 

Vince hit the ground with a grunt, too used to fighting to make noise about a throw, but ow, son of a _bitch_ , and how in hell did she do that?

Dinah realized what she had done and eased the pressure off his arm immediately. "I am so sorry, Vince!"

"It's... ow, damn, okay, Laur. Not the first time I've been thrown around -- are _you_ okay? I didn't mean to spook you, girl." He really hadn't meant to. One, Dom'd kill him; two, he liked her.

"I'm okay. Just edgy." she helped him up, checking his shoulder once he was up. 

"You don't normally mind if one of us touches you. Should have warned you, I knew you were upset." He shook his head at his own carelessness. "Laur, seriously, it's fine."

She took a deep breath. "Normally, I'd go pick a fight," she joked. 

"I think I'd feel sorry for the streets," Vince told her, working his shoulder for a second to double-check that it was fine. "Promise to show me how you did that, and we'll go move the table in the backyard up against the fence?"

Her eyes lit up and she gave him the warmest smile he'd gotten from her yet. "Deal!"

"Alright," he gave her a long smile, and turned to head out the back door. "You just threw me, I'm not gonna insult you by getting Leon to help me with the table."

She laughed and followed. "Thanks!" She was stronger than her small frame seemed capable of, but then with what she wore, they hadn't had a chance to see the true weight of muscle she carried. 

Vince grabbed one end of the picnic table, waiting for her to get the other end. "Nah, not the fence, the driveway. Dom'll still have space," he decided, heading that way, watching her handle her end easily.

"You can't know how much I need this to unwind. So used to burning my nerves out on wheels or in a fight." She carried her end well and helped him set it down out of Dom's way.

"What's wrong, pretty girl?" Vince asked, cocking his head to the side as they headed for the thickest part of the grass.

"Saw a face at the race last night. Thought I knew him from Star. Not someone I want to deal with." She loosened up with some quick twists and stretches, then bounced, boxer style, to wait for him to be ready. 

Vince had stretched out as she did, letting himself limber up, then came over to meet her, going up onto the balls of his feet to match her. He didn't box all that great, normally just scrapped any way he could, but he could do it.

She baited him into brawling, talking when she had a pointer for him, and kept at it until he got tired. He knew he could not touch her in a fight she was expecting, but she also shared a lot of tips he could use for his own rough and tumble ways. 

Vince wasn't exactly the type to give up, and just kept getting up off the ground, flinging himself back at her to see what else he could pick up. He didn't even really hear it when Dom's car pulled up.

Dinah did, but it was a normal sound to her and did not impact her fighting. She dodged a really good blow from Vince, taking some of it on the shoulder, before sweeping his leg in his unbalanced position. 

Vince hit, rolled, and came up again, only to stop dead as he heard Dom's voice. 

"Laur, Vince, you two all right?" Dom wasn't sure just what might have happened to have the two of them scrapping in his back yard, _but_...

"Just having fun," came from the woman, her voice laughing cheerfully, even as Vince growled, "Learning some things."

Dom's jaw wanted to drop at the idea of Vince being willing to learn _anything_ from anybody, but he nodded, leaning back against the car. "Don't let me stop you, then."

"Show me that sweep," Vince said, seeing advantages to a low kicking motion like that after a punch. Then he could beat the guy's skull in.

Dinah nodded and moved through it slowly, watching Vince watch her, and nodded. "You see it?"

He grunted, then tried to follow it on his own, copying it on her. 

Dinah let it connect, dropping onto her back instead of catching herself, and grinned up at him. "Yeah. Like that. Now, can you land it while I'm moving, is the question..."

He laughed in good nature, shaking his head at the drubbing he'd gotten -- without it ever getting serious. "Doubt it, Laur. Never seen anyone fight quite like you."

"Eh, momma kept dumping me with my uncle at the gym when I was just a baby," Dinah shrugged it off. "Been learning all my life--had to. I grew up in Gotham. You're not tired yet, are you?" she teased a little, grinning at him.

"Hungry, maybe." That let him still feel macho, even though he was tired. At least she didn't seem ready to break off on anyone else. 

"...yeah, food sounds good," she agreed, so much more settled now that she'd had a good, long spar. She looked up at him, her eyes content but serious. "Vince. Thanks."

He shrugged, then smiled back. It was real hard not to like a girl that ran like Laur did, especially now he knew she could fight like a demon. "No prob. Just ask next time instead of throwing me around the living room."

"I _told_ you I was sorry, you!" she glared at him, hands on her hips.

"What's broken in the living room?" Dom asked from his spot leaned against the hood of his car.

Dinah looked over at him with a glare for him too. "Not a thing. Put him down easy between that table and the chair." 

"Easy for you. My back says bullshit."

Dom ignored the glare and moved over to his lover, reaching out for her. "Good. Thanks for taking it easy on our stuff," he let his voice show all of his amusement at the idea of his little bitty lover throwing Vince around.

Vince snorted and went in to find out what Mia had cooked. Dinah pressed into Dom's body as she came into his arms willingly. "He's not so bad."

"No, he's not. Lot of mouth, lot of temper, but he's Vince. He's a good guy." 

"I was talking about his brawling," she teased. She then pressed up and kissed him. 

Dom laughed and kissed her back. "Teaches me to try and figure out what any woman's talking about, doesn't it?"

She just grinned at him before pulling him to come inside. Dom followed her, intrigued all over again.

* * *

Dinah had consciously stayed up at the garage the day the busts happened. She didn't want to be anywhere near any of the ones she had tagged that night at the races. Leon was the one who came in, swearing at the cops being all over the 'hoods with SWAT and Vice and everyone. 

Dom's body went still and quiet for long, long moments, his face drawn hard and tight. They'd all heard sirens, all day, but what Leon was talking about... He knew there was nothing anyone could pin on him, not now, but he was grateful he'd already sweat through the shirt, because he could feel it trying to come on from the fear and adrenaline. 

Jesse had more news when he skated in a little after Leon. Both Hector's crowd and Johnny's were going to be a lot lighter at the next race. Apparently some of Johnny's crowd had been muling drugs into the northwest coastal areas from the suppliers around Hector. Neither of the two men were impressed with the situation, and fighting within the factions had begun from the stress. 

Dom shook his head, worried by that. With as much business as he did with Johnny and Hector, having them at war was _not_ something anyone wanted or needed. But then again, it couldn't really go down any other way... 

Dinah offered to help cook, and suggested an early day, since nothing was due to be done, might be wise, before tempers spilled in this direction. 

Dom didn't really disagree with her. If things were going down this way, he'd rather be home with them all in the house with him than anywhere else.

Mia and she went ahead, getting dinner ready as the men cleaned up the shop. Letty stayed back with the men, having had her full share of Hector's boys but not quite able to apologize to Dom... not when he was content with Laurel. Dom laid his hand on Letty's shoulder as he came past her, looking down at her with the same protective eyes for a long moment. She was still his, no matter if she was his woman right now or not, and he didn't want her anywhere but safe with them.

She looked up at him, all the complicated bullshit between them meaning that they were okay, even if she wasn't in his bed. She nodded, then hassled Leon to get his ass in gear. Dom nodded back, and turned to make sure everything was locked up tight before they went for the house.

The sound of Mia and Laurel laughing as they cooked could be heard as they came in, and Dom went to see what they were making this time, sticking his head into the door. "Not like you can't hear it, but we're in. Everyone's here."

"We made enough," Mia told him. 

"Alright," he nodded, and let his house settle into being what it was supposed to be.

* * *

It had taken a little while for the meet-ups to pick up to the same full hue and cry they had before the busts, but nothing kept racers down for long and the lure of the money and the play was just too good. Dinah was there, tucked up under Dom's arm like everyone had gotten used to, Letty prowling around and winning some of the smaller games going on, and -- Her phone rang.

She managed to wiggle her phone out of the tight pocket it had been in, read the number, and shrugged out of Dom's hold to plug one ear as she brought the ear piece up to hear. "Roy?!"

"Di, I... can you come? I've got to go with my team, we're going to be out for a while and I don't trust anyone else to keep Lian. I mean, I'll get it if you can't, I'll find _someone_ , but..."

Dinah felt it slam all through her heart that he needed her, while she knew this meant finally backing off from Dom and this life here in the underbelly of LA. "Of course I'll come. You need me."

"Yeah. I do. I... see you soon?"

"Soon, boy-o." she got off the phone and turned stormy eyes up at Dom. 

"Wh--" Dom shook his head and started for the edge of the crowd, bringing her with him until it was quiet enough he wasn't going to have to raise his voice. "What's wrong, Laur?"

"I... damn, Dom," she said softly, and it held a bitterness at why couldn't this be right for them both. "My brother needs me. East coast."

Dom didn't let his mouth tighten as he heard her. He'd always known she was going to drift out again one day, but... He wanted her to stay, and knew she wouldn't. She loved her family hard and intense, and if the brother she loved so much needed her... "When do you have to leave?"

She swallowed hard. "He needs me now. I have to get there as quick as I can." It hurt, but in some ways Roy might have just saved them all more pain down the road. 

Dom sank his teeth into the inside of his lip, and nodded. "You have enough in that rat-trap to need help packing?"

She looked at him with miserable eyes. "I'd rather take an hour for us and leave it all behind."

"I'll get it packed for you, later," Dom told her, and turned to pull her back towards his car.

She went willingly, and sent a silent thought to her boy-o for patience. She needed at least one more piece of this amazing man before she vanished back to life as Black Canary.

* * *

+++ 3 years later +++

Dom petted down Letty's back, slow and lazy, curled up with her in the closest thing to darkness they ever saw in LA, as he decided to fill her in on what he was thinking. "Gave Brian the directions to Race Wars," he told her quietly. "Thought I might invite an old friend of ours, too -- if she's not too busy." 

Letty looked at his face, knowing there was something more there... and it clicked. She knew Dom and Laurel still talked. She also knew Laurel had been one of them, more than any other girl had ever managed to be. "That'd be good," she nodded.

"Alright. I'll see if I can get in touch with her later." Dom wasn't always sure what would push Letty's buttons when it came to other women -- and much as he'd enjoy seeing the blonde again, he wasn't going to piss Letty off when things had been going pretty good between them for a while. 

Letty didn't think she had to say she wanted another set of eyes there because of Brian -- not with the way Dom had taken to him so hard. She listened to Vince, knew Vince still smelled a rat where Bri was concerned. Laurel'd be a piece of a puzzle that Brian couldn't figure out. If he was a rat, it would show. 

He moved then, rolling up onto a shoulder to pet down her side with the other one. There was focus behind the lazy stroke, now, and an invitation. That got Letty away from thinking about their team, and more into just him... and it would be a good long while before they slept again.

* * *

Dom flipped his phone open as he headed over to the garage, Laurel's current number programmed in and easy to call.

The blonde glanced at her phone, saw the caller id on it, and smiled to herself. "Excuse me," she told the friends she was with and walked away to answer it. "Dom? Hello, honey."

"Hey pretty lady," Dom said, smiling at the pleased tone in her voice as she picked up. "How's your schedule look for the next, oh, three days?"

"It can be clear." She looked back at the mixed group of heroes. To be honest, things had been quiet and boring lately. "Just tell me how many wheels I need with me?"

"Just your best set -- of four, don't bring that crotch rocket unless you just want it to get around. --Damn, going to have to haul another trailer up to put you up, we'll be out of space. Eh, no problem, Leon can be useful."

"Don't worry so much about that, Dom. I'm flush; I can get something." She smiled and let it purr into her voice. "I'm sure I could crash with Jesse if nothing turns up." She started trying to remember where she had... oh, yeah. Star City, at one of Ollie's old hideaways. All she'd have to do was teleport in, spruce that ride up, check it over good... she'd be set, and it wouldn't take long.

Dom let his head tip back as he just _laughed_ at that thought, "Yeah, you probably could. He wouldn't get a word out straight for a week, but you could. Alright. You, your wheels -- don't worry about water, and we'll still handle your space to crash. We're solid there. Got a piece of paper around?"

"Sure...." She pulled out her other phone, and took the directions he was giving her down on it.

He finished telling her how to get there in a few minutes, and a thought struck him, making him laugh to himself. "Man, the cops aren't going to know what to do with themselves, no more of us than are going to be in town... Kind of like that thought."

Laurel threw her head back and laughed at that, knowing he could hear it through the phone. "Hope the donut shops are ready."

Dom laughed right with her, grinning wickedly. "We're heading out after I close the garage. Any idea how long it'll take you to meet us? I'll save you some space."

"I can be there by nightfall." She was already tingling with the thought of racing again.

"You that close? Why, I'm gonna..." Dom let the threat trail off, teasing her. "See you soon, beautiful. Oh, and Letty says hi."

"Tell her hi for me... and you just got lucky on the timing." It didn't matter that she was in New York right now; he didn't need to know that.

"Guess I did," Dom agreed, and hung up, heading into the garage to see if anyone showed up needing work. If he didn't have multiple cars by noon, they were going ahead and leaving early. Brian's car could catch up with the Airstreams, no problem.

Dinah walked back over to the various JSA members, and smiled. "Be seeing you all...have a date." She winked broadly at them, before going to abuse her JLA privileges to get to the West Coast.

* * *

Dom had his phone in his shirt pocket so he'd hear it even over the perpetual roar of the crowd as the sun started to go down. Not everyone was in yet, but the field already looked like Woodstock on steroids, or something like that, all campers and tents and people and the cars...

Just slightly before the sun would vanish, his phone rang, and it was Laurel's number showing before he picked it up.

"Hey, gorgeous. How close are you?"

"Being hassled by some punks at the gates..." she said in irritation. "Tell this mook to let me in," she said before handing over the phone.

Dom waited until he heard the security guard's voice. "This's Toretto. She's with me, let her in."

The phone was passed back. "Thanks Dom." She smiled at the guards then, before revving, and he could tell she had new wheels since he had seen her last.

"No problem. Oh, that sounds sweet," he purred at her, then started telling her how to get to him, walking back towards the Airstreams as he did.

She pulled in finally, driving a pearlized black Nissan 350z with green light effects and striping along it. She was quick to slide up out of the car, though, smiling widely at him, hair falling down long, almost to her waist now, and looking more fit than ever.

"Hel-lo beautiful," he said as he took the couple of steps to reach her, hands going down around her waist as he dipped his head to kiss her hello.

She kissed him back, light and friendly, hands settling on his chest briefly. "Hello gorgeous." She pulled back to admire him. "Did you start working out even more? 'Cause, damn, you are cut."

"No, just been doing a ton of body-work on one of the cars," he shrugged his shoulders, hands still on her. "And like you can talk. I feel those abs..."

She laughed happily, and shifted to tuck up under an arm. "Been trying to keep busy," she said. "Everyone here?"

"Yeah. Leon took off following a skirt five seconds after we got in; Jesse's out there with some of the other computer geniuses; Vince's -- okay, Vince has moved since I last saw him. Letty got dragged off by some of the girls, and where... There's Mia, and her boy."

"Mia got a boy?" Dinah followed Dom's eyes, and saw the pair. Cute kid, all California looks and smiles. She watched him, saw the way he moved, and felt a prickle at the back of her neck. "Where'd he come from? Don't remember seeing a baby face like his around."

"Arizona, his license says, but it has to have been a while back. He showed up working for Harry a couple of months ago. Mia decided she'd take him a couple weeks ago."

"Hmm." Her instincts said something was different, that he wasn't a racer or a gearhead, but she couldn't finger what was bothering her yet. "Mia's usually got sense..." She looked up at him. "Do you trust him?"

"...yeah. I do. He's--" Dom cocked his head, trying to figure out how to tell Laurel about this kid. "He saved my ass the other day, took a chance doing it. I do. Vince doesn't." He didn't like being at odds with Vince, didn't like the way it felt to not be sure of where his right hand was.

Dinah took that in, and breathed deep. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was just being away. Dom had good instincts, which meant she would push hers down and watch. She was good at that. "Okay." She kept her arm around him, fingers in his belt loops, since Letty wasn't right there, and flashed her patented smile as Dom took her closer to the others.

Dom called his sister's name, watching for her reaction to the blonde tucked up under his arm. 

Mia turned, hearing her name called... and lit up as she saw one of her best girl friends walking up tucked under her brother's arm, " _Laur!_ " She dodged away from Brian and ran across the way, laughing. "I didn't know you were coming. Dom, you _jerk!_ "

The blonde had to laugh at that, pulling free of Dom long enough to hug Mia tight. "Called me this morning, and since I was close enough... I came." 

Brian watched this girl -- no, woman -- tucked up on Dom, that Mia was hugging like they went back forever. The tight leathers the woman wore were shaped to a body tuned finer than most women -- hell, most men -- cared to work hard enough to get. 

"What, I can't try and surprise my sister?" Dom asked, his voice all mock-hurt and playful. "Letty knew I was calling her."

"Of course Letty would have to know," Mia said playfully. She let Laur go, so that the blonde could move back to Dom's side.

Brian tried hard not to seem too confused. The body language between the stranger and Dom did not say 'family', yet they were all okay with Letty knowing about the blonde? 

"Hi...Dom says they call you Brian," the pretty woman said, sticking her hand out. Brian took it, and found her grip stronger than he would have thought. "I'm Laurel Drake."

"Yeah, Brian Spilner," he managed, still trying to place where she would fall in all of this.

Dom grinned a little as he saw the confusion written all over Brian at Laurel being there. It kind of amused him to shake the boy up like this, and besides, if Laur raced, things were going to be good. "You got your number already, Laur, right?"

There was quick movement in the crowd around, and Jesse materialized out of nowhere, whooping, "Laur!" as he pounced at her.

The older woman caught the boy and hugged him tight, before ruffling his hair...then she sniffed. "Jesse, you been trying to not smoke it?" she asked, her voice proud and pleased. "And no, I came straight to you." She turned fond eyes at the man she did truly call friend in a way she could call few civilians.

"Switched to mostly nicotine, it's kinda working..." he shrugged, hugging her again. 

"They should've gotten you at the gates, but alright. I'll yell at security for a tag later. So.... what do you think?" Dom let the spread of one hand tell her what he was asking about.

She took a long look around, then a deep breath, and cut him a razor sharp grin. "It smells like money, and it smells like talent. I am so damn glad you called me today." She glanced back at her car. "She's not tested... not against good drivers... but I should be okay."

"Let me look?" Jesse wheedled, and she nodded, ready to head back to her car. The mods she had put in the last few vacation days she had used should come in very handy.

"I'm glad I called," Dom said at her back for the way she half-shivered against him at the tone he'd thrown into his voice. "And like your cars aren't always set," he snorted at the idea. He'd seen her in a couple sets of wheels, and they were always solid.

"Guess we'll see." She hauled on Jesse's arm and took him to the Nissan, leaving Brian with Mia and looking the way she'd gone.

"Interesting friend of yours," Brian said to Dom, testing the waters here.

"Laur's definitely that," Dom agreed, watching her go with casually pleased eyes. "Bets on how long it'll be before we see Jesse again, Mia?"

"Mm... dishes tonight say an hour and a half," Mia decided as she heard Jesse's excited yelp even over twenty yards and all of the people. "As long as Vince doesn't come distract them."

"Her and Vince...?" Brian questioned, head tipped to the side. Maybe that was the ticket; Mia'd love for someone to distract Vince away from her, and Dom looked on Vince as a brother nearly.

Dom threw back his head, laughing like crazy as Mia joined right in with him. "No, but if Vince shows up they'll be sparring in five and Jesse'll get bored," he managed to say around his laughter.

"Oh...hey, how's a guy to know? Hadn't seen or heard of her 'til today," Brian said defensively. 

Mia turned and kissed up on him. "It's alright, Brian," she said, her hand sliding along his shoulder. "Laur... she's ours. She's just not in the city very often. I cannot _believe_ you didn't tell me, Dom!" 

"I told you, I wanted to surprise you. Tell me it wasn't worth it," he challenged her, watching Brian over her head to see if he was calming down any. That flick of temper at not figuring out how to place Laur... that made something at the back of his neck stand up for a second.

"It was...but I'd still like to have known. Where we going to put her? Wait... let me guess, she's planning on Jesse being sweet on her, and Leon being gone, right?" Mia laughed as she figured that out.

Brian listened to that, and slowly relaxed, figuring that maybe this wasn't anything. Or maybe the woman was the key, an outside link to the crimes... That thought made his hopes flare. So much easier to pin things on someone other than Dom and his group, if he could just figure out how.

"Unless Letty decides she's mad at me again, yeah, probably. I don't know. Not like she could have much in the back of that Nissan..."

"Jesse's going to be on cloud nine," Mia laughed.

"Got a crush on her?" Brian asked.

"Always," Dom said with a shrug, laughing low in his throat over it. "Acts like a puppy when it comes to her." 

"Jesse's a puppy most of the time," Mia said with a smile over at her brother.

Brian felt that deep, chest-tightening feeling again, watching the brother and sister interact, thinking about the genius kid with ADHD, and everything the group was responsible for. Mia was clean, he knew she had to be, because Dom protected her, but he wouldn't be surprised if she knew... yet this moment reminded Brian that they were all so much a family. A family that had taken him in, made him part of them...

"Can't wait to see her race," Brian said, to cover his thoughts.

"First time we saw her, she beat Hector out by at least a second and a half -- unlike another blond I know, she could race when she _got_ to us..." Dom couldn't resist a line that straight.

Mia had to look down and hide her smile behind a hand. Brian just turned a shade of red around his ears, and shook his head. "I got better."

"So did she... took five cell phone pics to decide if it was her or Dom that won theirs," Mia volunteered.

Dom grinned as he got to watch Brian's jaw literally drop, and it took a few seconds for Brian to speak again. 

"So... who won?" If that little tiny honey-blonde doll of a woman had beaten _Dom_ , even just been able to race that close with him... Maybe his guess wasn't so far wrong about her being part of his problem. Maybe. 

"I did," Dom said, smile widening a little more.

Mia rolled her eyes. "I'm still wondering just how that timing fell that way...you and Letty and that break between you...." Mia smiled, teasing her brother. "Hey...I think Vince spotted her..." She stood on tiptoes to watch.

Dom turned, looking that way, waiting to see if his sister was right. 

Vince had been coming back to see if Dom had turned back up -- sticking around the trailer with Mia all over that punk that he still _swore_ was a cop wasn't on his list -- when he heard Jesse going a mile a minute and... Laur's voice answering? He turned sideways, and gave the car -- and Laur stretched out over the engine, talking to Jesse -- a long, long look before he whistled low and easy at the sight. Nice body on them both...

She turned at the whistle, all easy grace and tight energy in one. "Well hello to you too, Vince." She walked over to bang their fists together. "Been awhile."

Jesse looked, then kept going over the specs, numbers running in his head for what she had turned this into.

"Hey Laur," Vince said, reaching out to pull her in for a second's worth of hug. "You met the punk yet?"

"Dom says he trusts him," she answered, as a way to show she wasn't so sure.

"Dom has lost his mind. I swear, Laur, he fucking screams cop, and Dom can't see it and I don't know why..." Vince nodded, letting her see that he was damned worried about this damn cop snuck into their lives. He didn't know what Laur'd think of what they were doing, but she was loyal to Dom. "Yeah. Y'always have, Laur. Damn, I'm glad you're here. Dom actually _listens_ to you, sometimes."

She laughed at that. "Only because I almost beat him," she teased. She then took a swipe at him with a light punch to the upper chest. "Staying in shape?"

Vince'd moved to block her jab, and snorted as he swung back at her -- just playing. "What's it look like, babe?"

She grinned, putting on the normal show they'd all expect, curbing her skill to the street level they knew. It felt good to be here, but she was damned worried. What in hell had Dom gotten into that the cops were paying attention, and how much was it going to take to back a cop off so she could handle them?

* * *

Dinah lounged on the bunk contently, trying to doze off but keyed up. 

Jesse reached over and petted her shoulder every so often, light and casual and so glad she was there. He'd even chilled down enough to quit rattling at her about engines, trying to let her rest--she'd driven _hours_. He half-raised up in the low light as the door swung open, holding a hand up against his lips. Just Leon, but... 

Leon stopped in the doorway as he saw two bodies in the bunk already, and wondered if he needed to take back off for the building the 'staff' had cracked into to throw beds in for a minute.

"Long time no see," came a familiar voice, low with fatigue. 

" _Laur_?" Leon grinned, gave up on that plan, and kicked off boots and shirt to come lay down on her other side. Dom's woman, untouchable as the moon and about three times as beautiful, but she was his friend, too. "How are ya, gorgeous?" he asked, quietly.

"Tired right now. Drove in from Star after finishing a few mods." She gave him a quick hug before settling between them. "Met the punk."

Leon rumbled, low in his chest, and Jesse shook his head, starting a defense. "I _like_ Brian," he protested quietly. "He's cool. And he's good with Mia. You and Vince... you're still smarting from Dom smacking you around with him."

"I got over that," Leon replied, familiar with this argument by now. "I just... he rubs me wrong, Jes. And if Laur's calling him a punk, her too."

Dinah listened to them both, weighing her impressions carefully. "I think he sounds awful lucky to get Dom's attention the way he did," she said slowly. "But luck can be made."

Jesse sighed, dropping his head against her shoulder for a second. "I know, I just... he's cool, Laur. And... just beautiful."

Leon growled again, low in his throat, and shook his head. "Not gonna fight about it when Laur's tired, Jes. Don't want to fight about it at all. Dom's decided. And he does know cars, and loves 'em."

Dinah riddled Jesse's hair slightly. "Just don't go leaving me for the other blond." She kept her voice teasing, settling back against Leon so she could hold the younger of the two in her own arms. 

Jesse settled in against her chest, knowing for a fact he was the luckiest guy around -- 'cept possibly Leon, and snorted. "He'd have to have eyes for anyone but Mia."

"He does," Leon replied in a low rumble, not thinking about how it felt to have her tucked up against him like that. Not thinking about it at all. "You're cruel, Laur, you know that?"

She considered that, chuckling softly. "What can I say, Leon? It's my nature."

"I can never decide if Dom's blessed or cursed," Leon agreed with her.

She closed her eyes, and listened to both men for a long few minutes before dozing off.

* * *

Mia was still awake with Brian in the other trailer, all the lights out across the way, when Letty came in, looking around. "Vince and Dom went down to the poker games," she said, and... Letty's expression said that the pair of men weren't exactly who she was looking for. Mia glared at her. "You... you couldn't have told me she was coming?"

Letty smirked at that. "He didn't tell me if he got a hold of her. She did make it in?" She was almost surprised to have a place to sleep without being crowded. Not that she'd give over Dom to the blonde, but she would not have been surprised to share the bed. "Where... Oh I bet Jesse is in heaven."

Mia laughed, nodding. "Yeah. Saw Leon head in. It's gonna be hard to get a coherent sentence out of Jesse for days..."

"Won't be the only hard thing," Letty said with a laugh. 

" _Letty!_ " Mia protested, but she was having trouble not laughing, hand coming up over her mouth to try to hide just how much she wanted to give in to the laughter, her shoulders shaking.

"And they can't do a damn thing about it," Letty finished before moving over to her bed, laughing smug amusement all in her voice. All of it left Brian just a little more confused about the stranger. 

"Letty, you are _so bad_ ," Mia called at her back, and turned to bury her face in Brian's shoulder, giggling almost helplessly.

"What?" Brian asked. "She did seem out of their league, but it won't stop Leon from trying."

"Leon won't touch her," Mia shrugged. "She's Dom's. And she wouldn't hurt Jesse by going for Leon, even if she wasn't. And Jesse's too young for her."

"She's Dom's? But..." His eyes flicked to where Letty had settled. 

"Yeah, they're complicated," Mia nodded, shaking her head. "That was a fun couple of months..." 

"Wanna take talking about me somewhere else, little sis?" Letty called at her.

Brian got embarrassed. "Sorry. I was just curious." He pulled Mia in tighter, for about the fourth time that day. 

"I told you it's okay, Brian. You wouldn't have any reason to know about Laur. You weren't here the last time she was through." She nuzzled into her boyfriend, petting down his chest as she moved to talk quietly in his ear. "Dom's with Laur when he and Letty're fighting, mostly."

Brian filed that away and kept his own voice low. "But she knows and still seems to like her?"

Mia nodded, shrugging a shoulder a little as she talked. "Laur won't try and take him away. And they're friends, because Laur always plays it straight up."

That last left Brian puzzling harder at the enigma of the woman showing up now of all times. 

"Come on, Brian. Let's go to bed," Mia coaxed, leaving one of the lights on for Dom and Vince when they got in.

* * *

Dinah had been watching Brian early, when some not so serious races and bets were made, and it left her with a bad taste in her mouth. She looked over at Vince to see him watching carefully. 

Vince saw her looking his way and padded over to her, curious tip of his head for a second asking what was on her mind.

She made a quick glance at Brian before frowning, looking up at him. "Buy me a drink?"

"Sure, Laur," Vince nodded and headed off with her, hand brushing light over the small of her back, and he could feel the coiled tension there. When they were at a distance, she looked up at him. "I need to get him to fight, Vince. Then I'd be sure."

Vince frowned, and shook his head after a second. "I can't goad him into another fight, Laur. Dom'd kick my ass. And he doesn't tend to pick them."

She thought about it. "Let me knock you around? Doubt he can keep from being a smartass. And Dom doesn't call me down. "

"He's pretty good about girls, normally, but... yeah, he'll smart off. Alright. And you'd recognize a cop fighting, for sure. You were always the best at picking them out..."

She snorted, shrugging her shoulder a little. "It's a good trick to have."

Vince nodded. "When?"

"Now, soon as we get back. I can't let any of you guys get hurt by some cop." She still wondered why in hell the cops were on this gang, what Dom'd done that they were pulling this kind of a long-term undercover op... 

"Okay. You pick the fight, though, I'm not going to get you _and_ Dom on my ass for the punk."

She laughed. When they went back to the gang, she was pushing on Vince and he was making swats her way. 

Dom lifted a hand, waving off security when he saw that they were at it again, and just rolled his eyes. "Bets on time?" he asked, leaning Leon's way casually.

"Three." Leon watched with a smile as the pair tested each other. 

"On," Dom said, pulling a ten out of his wallet. "I say it'll go ... two and change."

Jesse had his watch up and counting as Leon out his own ten on it. Letty added in a ten, calling three and a half. 

A minute and change in, Vince was using some startled curses in loud tones -- prettygirl had gotten _better_ while she was gone, and where had this been when they were playing yesterday?

Dinah was more than able to see Brian was enjoying watching her control this fight. She carefully steered clear of her judo roots, in case he was a cop that could see basic styles -- she didn't want him to know that much about her. 

Vince was on the ground in under three, and Dom tucked the cash into his wallet. He'd seen the way Laur was _pushing_ , even if he didn't know why.

"Man, that has to sting, getting taken down like that!" Brian said, not quite laughing as he watched Vince pick himself back up. 

"Think you can do better, pretty boy?" Dinah snapped off, her voice too sweet, baiting him. 

"Go on, Brian," Dom said, low chuckle in his voice as he watched. //Vince, did you hassle her about Brian?// he wondered, hearing the honey-sweet tones in her voice that meant pure trouble.

Vince rolled up to his feet, put of their way. Dinah let Brian loosen up, then threw a feinted punch. She watched the block, measured how he moved his feet, the way he held himself. She pushed him through a handful of maneuvers, growling in the back of her head as he responded just the way she anticipated. Not more than a minute and a half in, and she flipped him, knee in his spine, arm in a lock bar hold. "I've definitely seen better." she held it just a moment longer than necessary. 

Vince had walked backwards towards the rest of his team, grinning like a _fiend_ the entire time as he got to watch somebody put the punk in his place. All the better it was their tiny little honey-blonde. He stopped when Dom rumbled -- "He won't make it," he said, just in time to see her holding Brian down.

Letty hid her own satisfaction at that. Dom trusted the pretty boy, but Letty saw him as potential trouble too. Dinah let Brian up after that second of a painful hold, and sauntered to Jesse's side, all smiles and relaxed grace. Brian, for his part, couldn't really meet anyone's eyes at first. 

Dom reached out as he came up, ruining the gel in Brian's hair as he ran his hand through it affectionately. "Next time, think before you run your mouth, Bri. Laur's tough."

Brian looked up at Dom with ruefully laughing eyes and nodded. "I see that." 

Dinah carefully didn't frown, but that look, at least from Brian, was one she knew too well. She'd seen it on Roy's face far too often, love half-buried under friendly admiration, but easy as sin to read if you knew how. And Dom wasn't stupid enough not to know, was better at people than to even think he didn't know, so what in the hell was going on? 

"Keep it that way," Dom nodded and let go, hand on Brian's shoulder for a second before he did. "Letty, haven't you got a race coming up quick?"

She gave him a lazy roll of her eyes, nodding. "Come on, Leon. You're holding my money."

Dom leaned over to kiss her, long and slow and thorough. "Have fun."

"Always do. You have fun too, just not too much." She smiled and kissed him again, almost savage in her possessiveness.

"Sure thing," he told her once she finally let him up out of the kiss, hands stroking down her sides before he let her go.

Dinah made her way slowly to Vince, and faced him directly, being sure none of the rest could see her as she mouthed 'cop'. "Show me what hunk of junk you've got here, Vince?"

"Oh, you are gonna _eat_ those words," Vince growled, low in his throat, the anger more at what Laur had mouthed than what she'd said, and nodded. "Sure, c'mon."

She walked with him, seething inwardly. She needed to know what her friends were doing, and if she could get them out of it. 

Vince got to his car -- and promptly unlocked it and slid in, his eyes blazing as he slammed the door shut, turning the ignition and flicking on the air to kill the worst of the heat. "Cop?"

Dom's tendency to want to take care of people was working against them now. As Dinah settled in her seat, she closed her eyes. "No doubt."

Vince slammed a fist into his dashboard, barely pulling it enough to not dent it, and cursed bitterly. "I'm going to kill him, Laur."

"No, Dom will, if he finds out the wrong way." Dinah's voice was cold and flat. "Because of Mia."

"She's one of the reasons I'm gonna kill him, what did you _think_ I meant? _Damnit_ but she deserves better. Deserves better than me, too, but I love her."

Dinah reached out and took his hand. "Vince, you're not going to kill him. You're going to need to tell me why he's after you guys, and then you're going to help me fix things. Because Dom needs you, and he can't let you go to jail anymore than he could go himself."

Vince rumbled, low in his throat, and turned his head, searching Laur's face intently, making sure she was still theirs, still Dom's. The flat, hard set of her eyes, the tension written down her back, the way her hand held his all said yes.. and he knew she loved Dom. Okay. "Dom's got this thing going. Big thing."

Dinah focused on him, on what he said, and worried. Whoever was behind the runs was too hard to find, so they were going after the wheelmen. Dinah wondered how Dom could do this, with what could happen, but said nothing on that. Vince laid it all out for her, how they were making it off the heists, their guy was making it off the insurance and the re-sale, and nobody -- okay, but the truckers, and they hadn't _hurt_ any of them, he had to admit -- suffered for it.

That last made Dinah frown because she knew how intensely violent those unions could get in defending themselves. "Vince, Dom won't roll on his contact, but that might be the only way to buy off the cops, finding out the boss."

"Dom won't narc, Laur, you know that." Vince looked at her, vaguely appalled.

"Damn it, I know. But if Brian can be turned away from cop-thinking: which is go for the obvious target; he could be used to fix this, and you guys walk off Scot free."

"Any bets on what that would take? He's a damned _cop_. Told us outright he wasn't. Lied to _Dom_ , and -- " he went completely still.

"And?" Unconsciously, Dinah used the same tone she used in prying information from Booster. 

"I heard some news this morning. House in the Hills getting raided by SWAT. ... Johnny and Lance didn't pull in til middle of the day today. We _took_ that punk with us to his garage, saw them smacking a fence around... I thought it just took a while to get the engines back, but I'd fucking bet they got grabbed..."

Dinah swore a blue streak. This did not bode well -- not well at all. Not with Johnny's sense of honor riled by something happening in his house. "Jesse and Leon need to be shadowed then. He might lash out at them, since you guys had that trouble earlier this year."

"Leon's with Letty, and Johnny's not stupid enough to mess with her, but Jesse won't stick with Dom long -- and I don't trust that damn cop to keep him safe."

"I take Dom, you take Jesse. Since you hanging around Brian would look off to Dom."

Vince rumbled and nodded. "Okay. I can do that. I'll take care of him, Laur."

"And I'll keep Dom safe." //From himself too.// 

"I know." Vince nodded, reaching out to touch her cheek before he shut the ignition off and popped his door back open.

* * *

Vince growled low in his throat as the two of them got back to the trailer and Dom and Mia were the only ones in the shade. //Damn, Jesse took off already? Shit.// "Where'd Jesse take off to?" he asked, not wanting to hear the answer he was probably going to get. 

"Took off back for the computers-geeks. Brian went after him," Dom shrugged a shoulder, not much caring. Here at Race Wars, Jesse ought to be just fine. 

Dinah looked at Vince, and made a small motion for Vince to stay there, so she could go after Jesse. The boy listened to her far better than he did any of the guys sometimes.

He nodded once and dropped onto the seat next to Dom, biting down on everything he wanted to say to him. Laur didn't want Dom to know yet, and he could see why. He even -- mostly -- agreed.

The little blonde took off at a trot to catch up to Jesse. She would rather have kept eyes on Dom, but Jesse was the weakest memory of the crew...and Johnny would not be rational after losing face to his family.

By the time she caught up -- running off word of mouth about where he'd disappeared to; Jesse was running off his mouth at Brian about a race he'd been offered, and to his credit, the cop was arguing with him every step of the way.

"What race, baby?" Dinah asked, slipping up along one side, arm going around his waist.

He grinned down at her, arm going around her waist. "Huy found me while Bri was grabbing drinks, I gotta go get the Jetta."

"Jesse, you throw your slip down and your dad will _kill_ you when he gets out," Brian tried to warn him again.

Dinah's nerves pricked hard. "Huy? He still run with Johnny?" She did not let go, and her voice was a little worried. She looked at the cop and glared behind Jesse's head. Very clearly, she silently said 'Go Get Dom Now!'.

"Yeah, of course," Jesse nodded, and… Brian turned around and ran.

Dinah let the cop's quick motion reassure some of her nerves. She then looked at Jesse. "Do you know anything at all about the SWAT bust that hit Johnny in his house, with his family?"

" _What_? What in the _hell_?"

Dinah took a deep breath. "Baby, Johnny's going to be out for blood against anyone he even imagines might have narced on him." She stopped their motion. "Can your Jetta win a race, with the right driver?"

"Like any of us _ever_ would!" Indignation ripped through Jesse's voice at the very idea, and then he gave her a long, hurt look. "Course it can. "

"Johnny won't be thinking straight, Jesse! At all. You getting challenged by one of his, right now? With that bad blood that Dom hinted at the last time I blew through town? He's looking to hurt Dom, and he's trying to do it through you." She hugged his waist tighter. 

"Yeah, they're not good... but Johnny's not -- okay, Johnny is that crazy, but he's got to know Dom'd never bring the cops in on shit... "

"I had to go to bed with him, before Dom ever admitted his past," Dinah pointed out. "And they didn't always know each other. We get the slip, and we go to the line. But if it's not Huy there, if Johnny or Lance is racing instead...let me drive? Please."

"...Laur, I can handle that Honda Huy's running, no matter how much they put under the hood."

"Listen to me." She stopped their walking, firmly. "I've run across Triads. It is not that uncommon for them send someone to do the challenge, and another to actually run it. I'm just saying...you're a good driver...one of my favorites, but we can't let Dom get kicked in the head because they put Johnny or Lance or that other guy behind the wheel, the one that gave Hector a hard time."

"I... okay. Guess it wouldn't be that bad if they swap drivers, for us to -- but I wanted to do this. If Johnny's looking to hurt Dom, though... yeah. No." 

Halfway across the sprawl of Race Wars, Brian came up on the trailer at a dead run, gasping out, "Dom. Dom, trouble."

Dom came up to his feet, face going into a serious frown. "Where? Where's Jesse?"

He gasped for breath, waving a hand back towards the race starting line. "Halfway there.. prob'ly. One of ...Johnny's boys offered Jesse a race. Your girl sent me. Thinks Johnny's setting trouble. Come on, Dom.."

Dom was already moving, Vince on his heels, and Mia only stopped by a harsh 'stay here!' from her brother.

Brian turned around and ran right behind them, replaying the scene in that house in his head, knowing how wild Johnny had to be... God, whoever that woman was, she was right. This had to be trouble.

Dom and the pair of his team got to the line in time to see Jesse and Laurel both at the Jetta, Huy's car coming up...but Huy didn't drive like that.

"No," Brian breathed, low in his throat -- just as Vince snarled "Hell no" quite a bit louder.

Jesse looked up, and started to say something, but a quiet 'no' from the small woman made the youngest of the crew grit his teeth and hand over the keys. He went to Dom's side, worried, even though Laur only usually lost on a new car because it wasn't tested. The Jetta was. Dom was the only driver who could beat her most of the time.

Dom wrapped an arm around his back hard, taking a worried breath as he watched Laur slide down into the car. Honda's mirrored glass came down, and Johnny looked out, his eyes flashing with black fire. "Hiding behind a woman, Kid?"

Dinah looked over at him before Jesse could even reply. ["Hiding behind a lackey, to go after a lackey, Tran?"] she asked in turn, in flawless Vietnamese, deliberately using the superior to inferior inflections to send his temper higher. Johnny was good enough that she wasn't blithe about her chances, especially in a car that wasn't hers. 

He spit furious profanity back at her, blood burning in his veins even as he wondered how Toretto's woman had picked up his language -- and where the hell she thought she got off speaking down to him. 

Brian blinked, looking over at Dom. "Any idea what just got said?"

"Knowing Laur... I'd say something nasty." He didn't know she spoke the language, but she always had new tricks to show off. Then she said something back, and Johnny got both silent and so furious that they all could have sworn they heard the steering wheel protest at how tight he was gripping it.

She waited a moment, then took it back to English for the security guy's sake. "So, Tran, are we racing or not?"

"Yeah." Johnny would beat her, beat Dom's woman that Dom was so intrigued by. She needed to be shown, needed to be put in her place anyway.

Dinah put her window up, and her eyes were all for the starter. His hands dropped, and she took the Jetta off the line. God, but she wished she'd run this car before...

It was handling smooth, but she was going to need to hold back to the very last on his NOS system. She pushed herself into the full battle awareness of a fight, treating the other car in her peripheral vision as an opponent. She had to do this, had to live up to Jesse's faith in her, had to slam Johnny down as hard as it took, to back him off, or make him come after her alone.

Johnny cursed, low in his throat as she handled that damn Jetta like it was worth four times the price, and he coaxed the Honda higher, hitting the NOS when he thought he'd need to.

She hit hers a moment after, coaxing the Jetta along, keeping her straight and narrow. She trusted Jesse's numbers; she trusted herself.

Johnny cursed under his breath again as she hit just a second after he did and the slight lead she'd had got multiplied by the NOS before he could break even again.

The line was right there, and Dinah knew it, but she stayed steady, held on. Sometimes you got a bad canister... but hers held. She crossed well in front, and was bringing the car down with the same skill she drove with.

"Damn," Vince said. "She's still amazing, Dom."

"Yeah," he purred low in his throat, but his eyes were all on the black Honda and how Johnny was handling it. He could see the fury from where they were standing.

Brian watched the girl peel out of the car once she had it stopped and idled down. She seemed so small against the panoramic view, smaller even than Johnny as he slammed out of his car, going toward her. Johnny's words were lost in the distance and the heat, but his body language screamed trouble. Dom shifted to go her way, knowing he couldn't get there fast enough, but they all saw they weren't needed. Not when the moment Johnny was in reach of an improbably long leg, it connected in a snake-like strike, sprawling the Asian out cold.

Vince threw his head back and crowed triumphantly at the gorgeous way she'd laid Johnny out, shaking his head. "Knew she was nasty with those kicks, but that was just beautiful, Dom..." 

Jesse was standing there frozen, then he nearly bounced out of Dom's arms before he hugged him in glee, "She just won me his car, Dom!"

"You were going to race for slips? Have you been in the sun too long?" Dom asked, teasingly, as the tension drained out for their behalf. He'd love to know what bug crawled up Johnny's ass, but he could get those answers later...and he motioned to Vince to keep his eyes up as Lance and Huy showed to get their boss.

Jesse shrugged, "Not like I had enough cash to buy in, and besides, B--"

"If you say I did it, I'm gonna remind you it was freaking stupid," Brian cut in. "Even if Dom's been great about it, Johnny wouldn't be."

Lance and Laur shouted a few things back and forth, and something she said took the fight right out of Lance in a fast hurry, enough that Dom almost thought he saw a bow of the cocky fighter's head her way. She then headed toward Dom and his crew, tossing the keys to Jesse. 

Jesse grinned like an idiot and clutched the pair of keys, bouncing on his toes. "Bri, help me get the Honda back?" 

"Sure, you lunatic," Brian shook his head and reached out to take Johnny's keys, trotting up that way with him. 

Dom shook his head, and reached out to acquire his sometimes-woman, pulling her in against his chest. "What the hell did you say to Johnny?"

She looked up at him, stretching along his body as the thrum of the race, danger, and almost fight made her very energetic. "Do you really want to know?"

"If he doesn't, _I_ do, Laur!" Vince leaned over Dom's shoulder to say it, looking down at her.

She smiled then before laughing at them. "I called him the bastard love child of two lesbian sows. He didn't react well at all."

Vince's mouth worked as he tried to process that one, while Dom barked an incredulous laugh. "You... no wonder he was so pissed. And then you beat him... oh, this is going to be _fun_."

"He'll come for me first...unless Lance convinces him of the error of his ways first," she said, with a mercurial darkening that left her seeming far more dangerous than they were used to.

"Yeah, about that. Do I even want to know how you backed Johnny's _crazy_ cousin down?" 

"I know a name that he knows and he is afraid of that name, quite wisely," she told them. "Now, can we go get a drink?" 

"Sure, gorgeous," Dom nodded and headed back for their patch of tarmac with her under his arm, getting out of the way of the next batch of races. 

She took Vince's hand as they walked, settling back to being their carefree little blonde, even as her brain wheeled over and over the options of this situation.

* * *

Dom couldn't help chuckling, watching Laur deal with the third guy in an hour that had come up to offer her a race -- for cash, nobody else was likely to put their car up against her with what she'd done to Johnny in somebody else's. "You're popular today, Laur... 'course, you made quite the entrance." 

"What can I say, baby? When you've got it, flaunt it!" she said before walking away to race for the cash with a swagger of her hips that left the air sizzling around the watching men -- and a few of the women, Dom noticed. 

"She's got it alright!" some wit said. 

"She sure does," Dom said, looking over at the half-grown teenager watching his sometimes-lover saunter away from the fire and the party going on around it, one of probably hundreds on the site. "And believe me, she's out of your league." The last word was barely out of his mouth when his phone rang and he walked off to answer it, free hand shoved against his ear. It was a call he had half hoped wouldn't come until after Race Wars, but they were prepped to handle this one. He listened to everything he needed to know, then got off the phone. He'd get his crew and slip away quietly to handle this. 

He thought for a minute about taking Brian along as he walked back, but by the time he got back to them, Brian still wasn't back from whatever piece of the party he'd found. That was an easier out than he'd really expected, and he got the team's attention one by one, and it wasn't but a couple of minutes until all he had to do was tell Mia they were going. 

Mia looked at his face and threw her hands up in disgust. "Dom, why do you keep risking it all? Whatever you're into, is it really worth it?" she argued, even as she knew she wouldn't get through to him. 

"This's the last one, Mia, I swear. Long vacation once this one's over... it's going to be enough to take care of things, sis. It'll be alright." He pulled her close for a second, kissing her hair like she was still his baby sister, and let her go to jog for his car. 

She watched him, a bad feeling in her guts as she did. She turned to go back to the trailer, trying to put the worry under lock and key in her heart so no one would ever suspect it was off for the crew to all be gone. 

Unfortunately for her plans at control Brian came up behind her barely a minute after the growl of Dom's engine faded away, his arm wrapping around her even as he looked at the missing row of the team's cars with a gut-deep blaze of fear. "Mia? What's wrong?" 

"Nothing, Brian. Why does something have to be wrong?" she snapped. 

"Because you've got tears in your eyes," he told her, reaching up to brush them away gently, fingers brushing down her cheeks. 

She sighed softly at him, shaking her head at just how well he knew how to read her. "It's nothing." 

"It can't be nothing, Mia, you're crying and your brother's pulling out in the middle of the night." 

"His business." She hoped her voice was steady. 

"His business, yeah, and it's going to get him hurt, Mia!" 

"What business when there's cash begging to be won?" Dinah asked as she came up behind them. "Brian." She nodded a brisk hello. 

Brian swore bitterly in the back of his mind as the stranger came up behind them, biting down into his lip as he turned, looking her over. She wasn't faking the careless curiosity, or the pleasure of her win... and she hadn't noticed that the others were gone yet. //Damn it, damn it...// 

Mia looked at Brian's too tense back, then at Laur's casual ease. The older woman smiled at her encouragingly, coaxing her to speak. "Dom had some business, and needed a little help from the others is all." Mia did sound casual, except Dinah could see the other woman's tension clear as day. 

Brian took a slow, quiet breath, and looked anywhere but either one of the women for a minute, his lips tight as he tried to figure out how in the hell he was going to get Mia to help him get to Dom before something went horribly wrong, especially with the little blonde _right_ there. Unless he could get Mia away from her, he was going to have to blow his cover to both of them -- he didn't have _time_ for anything else. Dom didn't know what kind of a trap he was going to be driving into, not if the latest word he'd gotten from the Teamsters was right... 

Dinah weighed the situation, knowing the cop was way too tense for anything not illegal. She looked at Mia and came to a rapid decision. "Brian, were you supposed to wrap things up this weekend?" she asked, and her voice had an edge to it. Her eyes were on him, piercing and far more intelligent than most realized. 

His head snapped back towards her, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about... and the hardness in her eyes froze him, his mind scrambling. "What?" 

"Laur?" Mia asked in confusion, looking from one to the other. 

"Your brother's in trouble, Mia baby. And Brian here needs to pick a side fast." 

"How?" was all he could manage to make himself say, still staring at her in confusion as Tanner's words from days ago echoed in his head again //All kinds of family, Brian. That's a choice you're going to have to make.// 

"You fight like one, especially when you're being fed moves to make you fall on training." Dinah looked back to Mia. "Dom needs help, little sister. Help me help him?" 

"Like one what?" Mia's eyes searched Brian's face, and that look felt like the first stab in his chest even as he realized yeah, he'd fought Laur just like the academy classes had taught him. 

"Mia... fuck. Mia, I'm a cop, and Dom's in trouble. Big trouble, and I wasn't lying, he's going to get hurt if you don't help me... us? get to him before he gets this job in full swing." 

Mia stared at him with anger and hurt fast building toward taking a swing. Before she could, she felt Laurel's hand wrap around her wrist. "Best save that for later, sweetie. If Dom's in a sting, we don't have much time to find him." 

"Mia, you can beat the crap out of me later, but I _swear_ , nothing I said to you was a lie. I fell for you, shouldn't have but I _did_ , and right now I'm no more a cop than I've got to be to get Dom the hell out of this." 

"I don't know details," Mia said, shaking her head. 

Dinah decided she'd forgive the punk of a cop... for now. "My car," she said, squeezing Mia's wrist before heading that way, calling over her shoulder. "Mia, if anyone comes looking for you, cop type, tell them my name and number, that I'm your friend. It should back them off until we get back." 

Brian turned, looking at Mia with dark eyes. "I love you. That's _never_ been a lie. I've got to go." He didn't wait for her response, more than half sure it'd be a punch if he did, and took off after Laur. 

Mia watched them go, hurt and furious that he was a cop, that Laurel had secrets too, and worried about their chance of stopping her stubborn brother. 

"So who the hell are you?" Brian asked as he caught up with her, his voice low. 

Dinah got in the car, tapping on the NOS control screen in a pattern that was odd. Brian watched it flip to a green mask. "Dom's friend in high places. And I hate having to show it, Brian. O! Need a cell phone trace!" 

"You're supposed to be on vacation," a synthesized voice echoed through the car, irritation obvious even in the metallic tones. "Do I want to know, and what's the number?" 

"You might. LAPD sting is catching up to one of my pet groups that helps me stay on top of street culture. Care to help me save my reputation?" she asked before rattling off Dom's number, praying it wasn't turned off. 

Brian's eyes narrowed, watching her, no happier with Dom's team being a 'pet group' than she apparently was with him being a cop. 

"God forbid you lose your rep. I'm on it. ...my, my. Your... boy? is moving fast down this road," the voice answered bare seconds later, giving details for her.

"O, this one's damn personal. Whatever my friend's in, he can't be top of the food chain. Typical cop mess of the west coast, I bet they haven't looked for the real brains yet." Dinah shot Brian a look as she burned rubber for the same stretch of road. If he wasn't hauling, maybe she could catch him. 

"No-one's looking higher than the drivers," he said after a second, wondering what in the hell he'd fallen into. 

The synthetic voice made a snort. "I'll follow through, but you owe me for hacking police files." 

"Just not in Santa Prisca this time, O." 

"Who _are_ you?" he asked again, even as he stared at her face, the sharp... familiar... profile, black leather up her arms. Blonde, small fighter, why was that ringing a be...? "No way." 

"Black Canary." The green mask fell away from the computer, showing a tracer map now of what had to be Dom's phone. "Met them a few years back, stayed in touch because I fell in love with the life." She smiled a little. "And then there's Dom." 

"You've got a ride-along?" the other voice asked, somehow still sounding surprised. 

Dinah laughed at her partner. "Just the assigned undercover cop, Oracle. Seems he likes my friends too." 

"I'm not going to say anything. Alright, cop. If you're working with her, give me what I need to know to make this fast." 

Brian closed his eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and started telling. "You want LAPD file," he gave her the case number, "and I have no idea what the feds are filing theirs under but it'll be all the same data, with SAC Bilkins in LA as liaison." 

"Bilkins?" Dinah made a retching noise. "He's a glory hound, always has been, no wonder he wants the visible catch!" 

"He'll have to deal with something less flashy, if you can catch your boy in time. Canary, this one's big, too." 

Brian looked at Canary for a second, his lips curving in a smile even though that was the last thing he wanted to do. "Yeah, he is... nice to hear someone else say it." 

Oracle was silent for a long time, as Dinah steadily closed the gap. "Tell me details, since my partner is busy chasing down the brains now," Dinah told Brian. 

"Semi-trucks out of the harbor have been getting jacked on the move by a pro team in LA -- and I'm out of other options, it's got to be Dom. Damn it, I thought he was too smart for this shit. You asked me if I was supposed to close it this weekend, yes. Bilkins didn't take his dumbass move with Johnny going belly-up well, and the last word we've got from the Teamsters says they're tired of waiting and warned us they were going to be going armed." 

Dinah's face went white. "Shit. Dominic Toretto, I'm going to smack you." She was afraid for him in a far more serious way, now. "When it was just fencing parts, I could look the other way. This... Damnit, why in hell did you... No, I know. Because he is that good. And he can't put it where he can show the world." 

Brian froze, staring at her. "The ban... oh, _damn_ Yeah. You're probably right, that's part of this... Jesus, Dom." 

Dinah looked over at Brian. "How did you find out?" If Dom told him, it was one more sign Dom had claimed the punk as his. If he just knew from being a cop, Dinah would not stop the first few blows Dom would give Brian once he knew. 

"Dom told me. You?" 

She nodded. "After he and I hooked up." 

Brian nodded back, letting that settle in. Not that it hadn't already been obvious that Dom trusted her, but... "What in the hell are we going to do? I... he _won't_ go back to jail, I know it, and--" 

"If we catch him first, I talk him out of the hit," she said. "If not, I throw my weight around, get him clear, and probably lose the best damn friends I have outside my lifestyle. Probably doing that anyway. Dammit!" He could see it hurt her to think of losing Dom, but that she was confident she could save him. 

Brian nodded, staring in front of them for any sign of the family he'd made -- and the one he was choosing. 

Dinah grew quiet, checking her display from time to time, watching her speed overhaul theirs, but not fast enough. Brian groaned as they swung around a curve, seeing three black Civics making up the last bit of distance on a semi way too damn far from them. 

"Hold on, Brian." She tapped out a direction on her NOS terminal, seeing that she should have swapped canisters, but maybe...just maybe, there was enough to get Dom's attention. "What I'd give to have my bike instead," she muttered. 

"I wouldn't," was Brian's reply as he tensed, bracing against the seat, waiting for it. 

She punched the button, keeping the car on an even line with the Civics, closing ground fast on the last breath of NOS in her canisters. 

Leon was the one in the last car, and it scared him to see Laur's ride shoot up in his rear view mirror. 

"Dom, we got company!" Leon's voice snapped over the radio just as Dom had kicked the engine up to run them in front of the semi, Vince already checking the gun over one more time. Jesse was keeping ears on the short-wave channels, and no semi driver was going to risk his license on using a cell while he was moving. If he was radioing out, Jesse'd have warned them. 

"What kind?" Dom snapped back, pulling the Civic back down behind the semi for the moment. 

"Looks like Laur!" Leon snapped back, which Letty confirmed a half second later after she twisted around in her seat. "Shit, Dom, why in hell would she ride up on us?" his lover asked, handling her car smoothly. 

"The hell is she doing out here?" Dom said, not over the radios, as he looked at Vince, then hit the mike to answer Letty. "No damn idea."

As he let up on the button, his phone rang. Vince's nerves were prickling, remembering that intense look on her face earlier at finding out Brian was a cop. "Answer it, Dom." 

Dom shot a look across the seat, but Vince's face tight like that meant his gut was yelling, and Vince wasn't often wrong. "Yeah?" he said into the phone, driving with one hand. 

"Don't pull this, Dom. It's a trap." Laurel's voice was tight with worry. "Please fall back with me. Don't let someone get hurt in this." 

"Laur? The hell are you doing out here?" 

"Trying to keep you free!" she told him. "That driver is armed. And the PD or the feds are probably en route." 

Dom went tense in the seat, looking at Vince for a second -- and the scream of the semi's brakes sent him darting into the other lane before he even knew what he was hearing, avoiding the rig trying to come to a dead stop in the middle of the fucking road. 

Dinah, helpless in her car farther back, cursed and stepped on the gas as Leon pushed his car over the shoulder to avoid catching nothing but trailer in his front end. Part of her mind applauded the driver for not jack-knifing but the rest of her mind screamed in protest as Letty wasn't quite fast enough to get clear of the rig. 

Letty'd jerked left just behind Dom -- just behind not damn good enough and _shit_ , her car was never gonna forgive her for this -- she fought for control as the back tires hit along her rear quarter-panel, weight of the rig doing damage, and yanked her wheel back to center as her own momentum carried her clear of the tires -- //Oh, fuck// slammed through her head as she saw a glitter off a gun-barrel in the driver's mirror and she dove under the rig, dragging her e-brake up. //Baby please...// 

Dinah wove past Leon as he came back up on the road to help, dry mouthed as she saw what Letty was trying to do. She had her car well in hand as she got ahead of the rig stopped in the road, spinning back as soon as she had room. 

Fighting the car down to a dead stop without slamming into the rig's underside had taken every bit of skill Letty'd ever learned, but she was the safest of them all this second... but this second wasn't going to last past the driver deciding to back _up_ overtop of her and she popped the Civic into reverse, rolling back slow. //I'm not gonna get under those rear bars in one piece... so what? ripped roof or crushed car, girl?// 

Dinah revved back right in front of the truck, still winging it and hardly aware of the cop next to her. She recalled him just in time to growl that he had the car, diving out of it just as she stopped it in front of the rig. The driver had to focus on her, and looked ready to roll forward. 

Brian slid behind the wheel, tucking down into the seat as he wondered what the _hell_ she thought she was going to do -- and his entire body tensed as he saw that gun swing around... 

Letty breathed a sigh of relief as the wheels stopped coming backwards towards her, and used the second of the rig being still to get out from under the trailer, ripping her roof open as she did, her rear wheels protesting, but she kept going backwards until she was just barely still in the driver's blind spot. "Dom, I'm okay." 

"See that, Letty," Dom answered her, then started backing up -- he'd hung out up in front of the semi, hoping to bait it into taking a shot... and now it looked like Laur was doing the same damn stupid thing. 

"I hate doing this, big guy," Dinah said, honest regret in her quiet voice just before she threw the Canary Cry in her hand toward the rig, its sonics at just the right pitch to disorient. Predictably, the driver had to clutch at his ears, giving her the time she needed to swarm the side of the truck to get the gun away. 

Dom winced as whatever-the-fuck that was ripped through his ears, but Laur was moving and she'd said cops, "Letty, your suspension okay?" 

"God, what is that? My head... Not for long, but yeah." 

"Okay. Spin around, baby. We've got to get out of here. I'll stay wi--" 

"The hell you will. You get your ass out of here. Leon'll stay with me," Letty told him, her voice not taking no for an answer this time. 

"Hell yeah!" Leon yelled back, his ears still ringing as Jesse clutched his own head. "We're with Letty, you get the fuck out of here fast!" 

Dom held the mic open as he cussed them both, but he spun the wheel over his hand and gunned it. 

Dinah had gotten up the sideboard, and snatched the shotgun barrel to keep the driver from using it. She prayed Dom's crew ran hard and fast now. 

Dom hit the nearest change-over and switched over onto the correct piece of four-lane, then ran the highways in his head, figuring out where he could get off this stretch and clear. "Vince, wipe the guns down and toss 'em out the window at the next mile-marker. We get pulled, we need those not in here." 

"No shit? Alright, Dom, I'm on it," Vince had canned the sarcasm at Dom's furious look, and set to making sure there wasn't a print on the guns before he tossed 'em out the window. Letty sure wasn't keeping up, but they'd make it. Jesse'd never called a warning... 

Brian saw the crew scatter, prayed they had plans on how to ditch those cars, and then focused on the truck driver long enough to see him lose possession of the gun. The small blonde got some kind of choke hold on him, holding him long enough for her to talk. The truck did not roll forward, and pretty soon Black Canary hopped off his sideboard to walk back to the car. He flipped the car back into park and slid out of the cramped conditions of her driver's seat and into the passenger side, giving her a long look. "So?" 

"I apologized for mistaking his attack on that group of joy riders," she said, her tone a perfect California bubble-headed blonde. "And I promised to look into his troubles, but he had to be mistaken about my cousins there." 

Brian stared at her across the seat, shaking his head at the almost totally brainless tone -- he'd heard it once or twice already, but for her to be using it now, in the middle of all of this... "You really think that's going to work?" 

Dinah started the car moving, back past the truck. "He was going to kill them, Brian. If he could. He'd rather stay quiet and have knowledge over me than press the point. Besides, I will stop this mess."

Brian nodded, ignoring the tone he'd heard from senior cops a hundred times as he let the idea that they might... just might... be able to save Dom from this sink in the rest of the way. He didn't have much faith that he was going to save _his_ relationship with either of the Torettos, but it'd be worth it.

"For what it's worth, Brian. You are worth the faith he gave you. You kept your head, and chose well. They're good guys, all of them, with too much skill, not enough legitimate money, and a need to prove themselves the best. I love them all to death, but this one has me wanting to shake Dom silly." She shook her own head instead.

"I hear the list of laws I'm breaking getting longer every second.... and... it's like I don't even care. I should've known coming back to racer life wouldn't let me go..."

She spared him a look. "How would you like a chance to stay on the side of the angels and still be a racer?" Her voice was seductively pitched as she dangled the bait in front of him. The DEA owed her a few favors, and Dom's group stayed near enough connections that a permanent eye on them would be helpful.

"How?" He wanted it. God, he wanted it, even though deliberately helping Dom and his team dodge the law meant he _really_ shouldn't. He'd gotten the hell in over his head like a damn rookie, let how much he missed the racing life push him too far -- and Dom drag him in like the gravity Mia said he was... "I mean. I'd love to. But what kind of a cop -- hell, of a guy -- would I be if I did?"

Dinah sighed. "Kid, you won't be a cop when this settles out, unless you take a beat or Vice. I'm offering to get you informant status at the DEA level. That was what originally introduced me to Dom."

"...oh, and Dom'd take someone in his team narcing _how_ well? --sorry. Sorry."

Dinah grinned like a fiend at his words, nodding just a little in approval. "So you will stay with him? And you wouldn't be narcing anyone directly. Just letting people know when goods were running high."

"Assuming he doesn't break my neck the next time he lays eyes on me..." Brian shrugged his shoulders, not all that sure Dom wouldn't. "Or Vince doesn't do it for him."

"We'll have to see. You really love Mia?"

"Yeah. I do. She's... funny and smart and just... her. And I'm crazy about her."

Dinah nodded. "I won't kill you, but you hurt her, you'll wish I would. Hurt Dom, and I'll do worse."

"I never wanted to get either one of them hurt."

Dinah decided that worked for her. If Dom was still speaking to her when this was over, she'd say a good word for Brian. For now, she just hoped she had enough gas to make it back to the abandoned base, that Dom and crew got fully clear, and that Oracle had results fast.

* * *

Mia was up on top of the trailer when Dinah brought them back, her arms wrapped around her knees, chin on them. She hadn't been able to stand the thought of being inside, and she was going crazy with worry. The car coming her way made her scramble down, looking behind the car for her family. 

Dinah coaxed the car down and heard the engine die for lack of any more fuel. She then slid out of the car to go straight to Mia, pulling her into a firm hug. "Should be safe, but now we wait." 

"Where are they? And d--" her hand balled up as Brian slid out of the passenger seat, her voice cutting off at the look on his face. She didn't want to trust him. Didn't want to give a damn about him... but she hadn't been able to get the smile on his face as he told her he was there for her (lie that it was), the way he'd come to help her, and the fear in his eyes talking about Dom in trouble out of her head all the long hours they'd been gone. She still wanted to deck him. 

"They had to scatter, Mia. I'm pretty sure they'll make it back by nightfall." Dinah prayed she wasn't being too optimistic.

"No cops showed, so they should get clear easy," Brian told her. "Now you can lay me out."

"Oh, I _can_?" That was all the spark she needed to move, throw her weight behind the strike the way Letty'd taught her years before Laurel'd become part of their family, and the punch landed square in his pretty jaw, knocking him staggering.

"Oh that's beautiful, Mia!" Dinah praised her. She did however give Brian a hand to steady on, even as she laughed herself about sick.

"..ow," Brian said quietly once he had his balance back, hand cupped around his jaw, carefully prodding at the inside of his mouth with his tongue. "If I say 'nice punch' will you hit me again?" The words came out muffled, but distinct enough for her to understand. 

"I'm thinking about it," she told him, her mouth still set in a tight, hard line.

"Mia, he never thought it was Dom's crew." Dinah reached out and rested her hand on Mia's shoulder. "And he's thrown away his career for the two of you."

Mia leaned into Laur's touch, looking at her lover with hurt eyes. "I don't need you to tell me that, Laur. I need him to. You," she pointed at him, "inside. We'll talk."

"Okay, Mia." Brian nodded and moved -- that was better than he'd had any right to expect.

Dinah let Mia go after Brian, and took up vigil, texting Dom to let him know she and Brian and Mia were all safe and waiting.

It was a little bit before she got an answer back, and it was simple, 'on our way.'

She let a deep breath out, praying for the best.

* * *

Dom pulled the Mazda up to the parking spot he'd left hours ago about the time the sun was finally setting over the desert, and Vince slid out of the passenger seat almost before he'd shifted into park. Dom slid out of the car a few seconds later, and headed towards the lights of the trailer, seeing Laur sitting on the steps with a flare of tension -- he'd had the entire drive back to think, and Laur had saved their _asses_ , however the hell she'd pulled it, but he wanted some answers, fast. Vince dropped back off his side when he spotted Laur, and Dom covered the rest of the space between them. 

Dinah had had far too much time for thinking. Dom needed to know everything, and that meant the very real risk of losing the friendship she had carefully kept. Her escapes back to his group had been the one part of her life that was completely unconnected to being a hero, and now she was probably going to lose it. Still, it had been for the best. Her loyalty to them could not have abided the way the ending could have been written. Seeing him approach, she stood up and moved toward him, well aware that the stunts she had pulled would have left most people too sore to think about moving with grace, but it was what she did for a day job.

"Dom." 

"Laur." He looked at her, tension in his arms from wanting to cross them over his chest, head tipped slightly to the side as he looked at her. "Think we need to talk." About a lot of things. About how she'd found them, about why she'd just stopped them, then the trucker, about who the hell she really was... He knew Vince'd told her what they were doing, he'd copped to that on the ride in, but that didn't explain her finding them. 

"Yes, Dom. Inside? Fairly safe now that Brian and Mia stopped yelling at each other." She made a light smile at that, because the yelling had ended rather... passionately, and it had been quiet for a little while now. 

Dom tensed a little more at that. He'd figured Laur had just brought Brian along with her with however the _hell_ she'd known to come after them, but if Mia'd been yelling at Brian... "How much more pissed am I going to get if I ask why my sister was fighting with her boy?" 

Vince coughed, and Dinah shot him a glare. "Pretty pissed. Except for the part where he made the right choice." 

"Fine. I'll get that part later. Alright." He looked over at Vince as he caught sight of Letty and Leon's cars coming up, and jerked his head to send Vince to stall them before he headed into the trailer behind Laur. 

She went back to his area unerringly, and settled lightly, biting at her lip as she watched him. 

He leaned back against the wall a couple of feet from her, arms still crossed over his chest. "You want to talk, or you want me to ask?" 

"I'll tell you." She took a deep breath as she got ready to break apart the best thing she'd had in years. "My name...my full name...is Dinah Laurel Lance. Drake was momma's maiden name." She waited a moment to see if it rang bells; her identity was not that secure. 

He was quiet for a minute, thinking, turning that name over in his head. It sounded like she thought he ought to know it, and //Dinah Lance.. Dinah La--// He stared at her, realization sliding through his veins like ice. "Black Canary." 

It hurt her to feel the absolute flat tone of his voice, the icy distance he'd never shown her before, and she let it show in her face. "I came here to try and save some of my kids in Seattle. Because back then, the main drug supply to the Northwest was coming up from Cali." She swallowed against the lump in her throat. "I loved the life though. Still get away to race when I can. And I found people I could be friends with, that didn't worry every damn day if Darkseid was going to show up this week or not." 

The hurt in her face made him want to soften, but the fact that she was a cape, a _hero_ , no-one to be trusted by someone like him, like Vince -- warred with that she'd just saved Letty's life. That she was standing right there laying things out for him, she hadn't just disappeared... "Hear about your races, once in a while." He thought for another second, remembering what had happened around the time Laur'd walked into his life. "Hector'd be pissed, he knew you'd narced that many of his boys to the cops..." 

"Should run a cleaner gang then." She didn't have a high opinion of the drug trade by far, and the venom in her voice showed that as clearly as it ever had. "I knew you were clean, and I liked your family set up. I couldn't resist settling in, and didn't really want to go once I'd found the ones I needed to take down. If my Boy-o hadn't..." her voice trailed off for a second. "Well, I was damn glad the first time you called me up and gave me a reason to come back for a visit. And I've tried damn hard not to let that life touch what I have here with all of you!" 

"Yeah, since we never had a damn clue, I'd say you did," he said, his voice quiet, dark. "But... now what?" 

"I go away, if that's what you want me to do," she said very softly. It hurt her to say it, and she didn't bother to hide that either. "I'd rather not... and I can't until I get word from my partner that she's got the Feds and PD off your back." 

Of everything she could have said about what as going to happen, she couldn't have picked anything that would have surprised him more. He'd never expected for a cape to take his side -- and he wasn't sure how much he believed it, either. "You just choosy which laws you pay attention to?" 

"Dom, I'm a vigilante, not a cop. I break the laws to try and do what the cops can't." She shook her head ruefully. "It's not perfect, but I do what I can. And yeah, a lot of my crowd would have said stopping you was my duty... but I learned before I was even grown up that the brains are what matter, not the middleman. I hate cops who want the obvious arrests, instead of the big fish!" She let her anger flash through her eyes on that one. Then she sobered, calming herself to look up at him. "Dom... I'm human. No one had been hurt yet, or if they had it didn't get passed to me. Today, you all could have been killed. Or worse... caught. And I think you're too good a man to be sent back to any cage." 

He went still, staring at her, barely able to believe his ears. It wasn't like he didn't hear stories about the capes in other cities, about the Bat and hassling the street crews in Gotham, about Coast City's Lantern and the way he got into everything, Metropolis's freaky-low crime rates... and here one of them was, saying she thought he was too 'good a man' to -- "You know damn well I wouldn't go back." 

"And then I would have to mourn another man that's meant a damn lot to me." She pulled her knees up to her chest, remembering all the men she had lost in the years of her life; friends, lovers, and family. 

He didn't even know he was moving until he had, until he'd come to her and wrapped his hand around her far shoulder, holding her. "Easy, Lau -- Dinah," he said quietly, hand stroking her shoulder a little, looking down at her. 

"Laur. For you. It's not a lie, Dom. It's just one of my faces. And probably the closest to just me I've ever managed to have." She leaned into him hard, pushing into the solid strength of his body. "My partner will take this out of my hide later. Right now, I just want you and the team safe." 

He sat down beside her, arms still wrapped around her shoulders. "Not a lie, huh? ...guess you capes have some screwed up ID things?" He was torn between not looking the gift engine over too hard, and finding the crack in the manifold before it blew completely. "You... Y'know, you're nothing like I'd've expected a cape to be?" 

She laughed, softly, at that. "Yeah, I guessed that. But then, half of them don't think I'm much like they are either." 

"No?" He tipped his head to the side at her again, curious. There was this whole side of her he didn't know, right in front of him, now. 

"I came from Gotham. The Bat kind of gets pissy about heroes who get their hands dirty. I learned that in Star." She shrugged her shoulders, not caring. "Learned from my daddy first, sometimes you have to know why people do things, and that they don't always have a choice, if their back's to a wall." She pressed her chin against her knees. "Momma said her daddy taught him that, but I'm not sure it wasn't just a part of him." She shook her head then. "I wasn't supposed to be a hero. Wouldn't have been, if I hadn't gotten a nifty trick with my voice. Wanted to be like Dad." 

"Yeah?" 

She looked up at him, and this devilish smile touched her lips. "He was a cop, before an injury put him off the force... and he became a private eye." 

"Glad you didn't follow him," Dom said after a minute or so of surprise. "What kind of 'trick'? You never..." 

She swallowed hard, and pulled her wrists up to where the scars showed. "Lost it." 

He growled, low in his throat, and tugged her tighter into his arms, hand stroking down her shoulder again as he tried to ease away whatever memories he'd woke up. "Sorry, Laur." He pressed a kiss against her hair gently. 

She forced that part of her life away. She was better, she knew she was better. She'd gotten over that time, over Ollie, over it all. She was Oracle's right hand, after all. "Sorry. I tried so hard to lock this all away from you. Not to lie, but to keep you all safe." 

//What the hell?// He didn't try to hide the confusion from her as he asked, "To keep _us_ safe?" 

"I am Black Canary. I've been a member of the League, of the JSA, and I ran with Green Lantern and Arrow. Believe me, I do everything in my power to be sure I'm not trailed from that life to this." She didn't have many personal enemies -- although, that mess in Gorilla City might have gained her one or two -- but plenty would go after her for her connections. 

"...Guess that might get you some pretty serious enemies," Dom said after a couple of seconds to think it over, and the idea coiled protective anger down his spine -- //like she needs it? You saw what she did. You've seen her on TV fighting.// If there was a woman in his life that _didn't_ need his protecting, it was Laur. 

Dinah leaned her head on his shoulder. "I don't want to lose you, Dom. Any of this. Because...I need it. It keeps me from getting too much like the League." She knew that had to sound confusing, because she had been League. "It keeps my feet on the ground, where they belong. Reminds me that there are real people I can help, when the big stuff makes me want to scream and run away."

"Can't imagine you wanting to run from much of anything," Dom told her, holding her in against him some more for the way she pushed closer. "I... you're part of my family. You know that." 

"My partner would say I don't run when I should, and she'd be right." Dinah closed her eyes slowly; it had been such a nerve wracking day, top to bottom... "Thanks, Dom." 

He snorted, hand running down her back. "How'd you find us? Know Vince told you what we were doing..." 

"Partner's good at electronic things. Better than Jesse, but don't tell him that. I tracked your phone, and then turned her loose on the police files." She smiled, but didn't open her eyes. 

"...Think I'm glad you did," Dom said after a second. "Still want to be pissed at you."

"I'd tell you you could slug me now, but I'm too tired." She did open her eyes then, looking at him playfully. "By the way, Mia punches damn nice now."

"Mia hit Brian?" The thought surprised him. Mia normally left taking it physical to him, or to Vince.

Dinah nodded. "Saved me having to kick his ass again." She snorted, amused despite herself. "Boy's got spirit and heart, and he was pretty solid once he chose."

"This is the part where I'm going to get pissed off again," Dom said, taking a long breath.

"Vince was right," she said softly, turning in his arms to get her arms around him. "He told me his suspicions, we baited him, and I fed him textbook moves to make him fight me like a cop. So I'd figured it out." 

Dom went rigid in her arms, moving to come back off the bed -- only to be caught by her grip on him. "Vince wa -- " He bit off the furious yell, knowing his sister and the _fucking cop_ , god damn it he'd lied to him, he'd _seen_ \-- "The _hell_ he's back there with Mia." 

"He probably won't be a cop when it all settles," Dinah said casually. "Chose family over career." 

Dom took a long, slow, careful breath. Then another one, and thought about the fact that Brian had been right there in that car, and that not one cop had shown up on their heels... That had weight. "I'm going to knock his head in." 

"Yeah, probably. Just don't mess his face up too much; I think Mia likes it." Dinah giggled softly. "And other bits." 

Dom growled, low in his throat at her giggle. Yes, his sister was all grown up and had been -- that didn't mean he had to like it. 

She pouted at him. "Oh come on, Dom...you just defied a hell of a lot of odds today. Lighten up a little before you go tell everyone the answers to their burning questions." She leaned hard into him, and he wrapped his arm around her again. 

"What's this _I_ go? You're gonna come talk to them." 

"Hmm, I suppose I should." She stayed close to him with a long, deep breath of his scent. "I'd like to keep my identity under wraps to everyone not ours, though." 

Dom just nodded at that. Of course she wasn't going to tell everyone -- nobody outside their family'd trust her if she did. 

She wiggled free of him and stood up. "Let's go face my firing squad," she said, and he saw her shoulders tensing up. It really meant a lot to her to have this freedom, almost like the cape identity rested on her like chains. That wasn't a thought he liked. 

Dom slid to his feet and followed her out the door, hand settling at her back as they headed for the knot of Vince, Letty, Leon, and Jesse. 

She pushed back into the touch, and looked at them all. Vince looked hopeful but confused, waiting for her to tell him what was up. Letty was typically suspicious, and Leon looked like he was just damn happy to be alive and not busted. It was Jesse, all but jittering in place, that won the smile from Dinah though. "You figured it out?" she asked him, watching him with that smile still on her lips. He nodded his head vigorously, eyes dancing. "You want to tell them, then -- just keep it _down_ , Jesse," she added.

He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at her, "Like I wouldn't!" He huffed, and then grinned as he looked up at Leon, his voice quiet. "She's Black Canary. Our Laur's Black Canary -- and she told me to go to the Titans!" 

"No shit?" Leon asked, his voice a little louder. Letty swatted the back of his head, making him shut up. She then looked Laur over, head to foot, and shook her head. "Damn. And I missed seeing just what the hell you did when I went under." 

"She's crazier than me," Vince said in answer to that. 

"I am not, Vince. I knew he was disoriented enough I could get it from him -- and yeah, Jesse, I did. Wanted like hell to argue with you more." 

Jesse blinked at her. "Seriously?" 

Dinah nodded. "You'd make an awesome tech geek for the Titans. Really." She looked at the others, trying to sense their mood over all of this. "I tried hard to never lie to any of you. Laur is part of my name. I do have a kid brother of sorts who got in trouble with drugs. I am from Gotham, and from Star. I just left pieces out, because I love being with all of you, and I didn't figure you wanted a 'nosy' cape around."

Vince had his arms crossed over his chest, listening... then he nodded slowly. "If you wanted to make trouble for us, Laur, you'd have done it.... Guess we can stand having you around, since you saved our butts." 

Jesse reached out, arm wrapping around her. "I can't believe it. You... you know _everybody_." 

Dinah snuggled Jesse close. "Not everyone...okay, yeah, everyone." She shrugged. "I like being here a hell of a lot." She mussed his hair some and let go of him. "Vince, I knew for a fact you guys were clean long before I opened up my heart to you all. I grew up learning how to spot the good ones." She grinned lopsidedly at him, then her head turned as Letty started to talk. 

"I'm just glad Dom's not the bragging kind," Letty said, her mouth curled in a wry smile. "You're hard enough to live up to as it is." 

"Aww, Letty..." Dinah moved over and bumped fists with the other woman of Dom's life. "You okay? I was scared to death for you." 

"Yeah, I'm good -- but man, you saved my ass, girl. He was gonna come right back over top of me, I swear." 

"I know. I would have in his place," Dinah admitted. "Not that I would ever want to drive one of those things. Too many wheels," she said, and Vince cracked up on that. He was okay, Jesse and Letty were okay, and Leon seemed to just be stunned.

"Leon? You okay, man?" she moved over his way, head cocked to the side. 

He shook his head, looking down at her. "I... yeah. I'm okay. You... whoa." 

Dom snorted as he watched Leon stammer. "Alright, next piece of business," he said, getting all their attention. "No one but me gets to crack down on Brian. That goes double for you, Vince." 

"I _told_ you, Dom, damnit," Vince growled at him, arms crossed over his chest again as he glared at Dom. 

"Yeah you did. Now shut up about it." 

"The fuck?!" Letty demanded as she processed what they had just said and her eyes sparked with anger of her own. 

Dinah shook her head, reaching out to settle her down. "Letty, when it mattered, he chose us. Not his badge."

"No, no no no no _way_ ," Jesse protested, shaking his head. 

"What?" Leon asked, getting a growled 'Bri's a cop' from Letty. "Shit, man!" 

"Mia already raked him over the coals, and she's decided to keep him, apparently," Dinah told them all. "I probably can't salvage his career, even if I do tie this case up in such a way to get all of you immunity. I'd rather just stay out of it and let it fade off, but if I have to get involved... I will." 

" _Good_ ," Vince growled, then the rest of what she'd said came through and he stared at her. "How the hell you going to pull that off?"

"Think we're just better off not asking, man," Letty said, her hand on Vince's bicep, then. 

"Damn right 'good'. Mia's not dating a cop," Dom said from behind her.

Dinah rolled her eyes at Dom's statement, but pressed back into the solid wall of muscle. "If it's too thick in his blood, I'll find a use for him," she promised. "Right now, I'm tired, you all should be, and I'm going to find a place to bunk."

Letty snorted, shaking her head. "Bunk with the lunatic behind you, Laur, I'm going to go get drunk and forget that semi rolling back at me. Vince?"

"I'm with you, since I can't beat Arizona's face in," Vince growled, rolling up behind her to go find a party. Leon and Jesse tried hard not to look too disappointed that Laur wasn't staying with them, even as Leon thought that was probably best for his self-control.

She grinned at him and headed out, letting Vince trail her. 

Dom just shook his head at Letty's retreating back, then looked down at Laur where she was pressed up against him. "Come on, Laur, let's get you in bed, then..." 

Dinah hesitated, looking the way Letty had gone. This was always nebulous territory for her, not quite sure if Letty was relinquishing claim on Dom or not. She decided that maybe it was just a thank you, and she'd be gone in a few days anyway, so.... "Alright, Dom." She tucked under an arm to walk back inside with him. 

Dom just took her inside and back to bed, his hands running over her shoulders gently before he slid them down to work on her clothes, slowly stripping them off her. She let him, deciding that maybe the best way of all to settle Dom was to let him have the control, and pressed into his arms as he laid her down.

* * *

Heat across his eyes made Brian roll over, half-wake as he heard Mia whine sleepily... She obviously didn't want to be awake yet, and pulled the pillow over her head.

He growled as the pillow was pulled out from under his head and tugged at it, wrapping around her again. Mia sleepily decided that was alright by her, and meshed tighter to him, letting his body heat push her back toward cozy sleep.

He settled, mouth against the skin of her shoulder gently, and tried to go back to sleep himself.

"Get up." The low, gravelly voice was accompanied by a solid kick to Brian's side of the bed. 

"You are so mean, sometimes, Dom," came a lighter, equally voice from further away.

Mia snarled and her head came up enough to glare at her brother, grabbing at Brian's arm wrapped around her. "G'way, Dom..."

"No," Dom said, sounding so much like an annoying older brother that Brian had to smile against Mia's shoulder. He knew he probably wouldn't have much reason to smile later, but for now, he could. 

"Dom... let them get up in their own time. We've got to get the boys to push my wheels over for some fuel." At that pouty note in the woman's voice, Brian made the mistake of raising up enough to look over. One, it showed him the woman was the Black Canary, standing in nothing more than one of Dom's shirts. Two, it gave Dom more reason to make the morning miserable.

"Brian can help push it then." 

Mia sat up, then, sheet tucked up against her chest as she glared at her brother, hair falling down over her eye. " _Mine_ , Dominic." 

Dom's lips tightened at his sister's tone, but he just shrugged a shoulder. "Get up, Brian." 

"I'm sure as hell not going back to sleep now," he said, shaking his head as he sat up, letting the sheet keep him decent as he looked past Dom again. "Morning, Dinah." 

"Morning, Brian." She smiled across the trailer at him. "Morning, Mia."

Mia took in the look, the shirt, and just half-smiled. Laur and Letty had their own rules where her brother was concerned. Nobody else understood them, but they seemed to work out. 

Dom walked back over to Dinah, helping her sort out her leathers so that she could pull a pair of pants on. Brian moved enough to grab his jeans and slide into them, handing Mia her shirt. 

The four adults were soon dressed, and Dom moved toward Brian, intent in every line of his muscles. "Come on, Brian. You can help me get Laur's car taken care of. Mia, Laur, get the trailer ready to roll home tonight."

Mia started to bristle, but Laur touched her arm, shaking her head. 

Brian nodded, heading out of the trailer, _feeling_ Dom right behind him and just waiting for the punch once he heard the door swing shut. 

"So how many times have you lied to me, Arizona?" a hard, dark question came, rather than the punch. 

Brian turned, looking at Dom's shoulder instead of his face, and swallowed. "My name's Brian O'Connor. I did time in juvie for joyriding my dad's car -- not two years. And I was trying to tie one of them to the heists that night because I didn't think it could be you." 

"Any others?" Dom asked dryly. 

"No, damnit, and no, nobody was helping me when I picked you up that night, either." He stopped for a second. "Oh. And I'm from Barstow, not Arizona, though I lived there for a month or so." 

Dom nodded, all slow, thoughtful ease as he did. "One thing. Don't lie to me again." He wanted to hit Brian, wanted to let loose for having been lied to when he'd trusted the blond. He didn't, he held his hands at his side, because underneath all the betrayal and hurt, he still _did_ trust Brian. He didn't know why, and he wasn't sure it set well with him. He'd blame it on Mia keeping Brian around. "Oh. Another thing." He waited for Brian to bite. 

"Yeah?" Brian was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, Dom to haul off and swing at him, anything. It couldn't be that easy.

"My sister doesn't date cops, so don't go getting any bright ideas on that line." He moved off toward Laur's car then, letting Brian stew. There were ways to get his own back, and Brian still owed him a car.

"Dom, I'm not going to _be_ a cop when this is over. That trucker changes his mind, and I'm going to be lucky if your girlfriend keeps my ass out of jail."

"Glad you know it." Dom tried hard to ignore that bit about jail, but he couldn't quite ignore the fact he didn't want it to happen. Not Brian, trapped like that.

"I don't want to know how stupid you think I am, if you thought I didn't. You want the list of laws I'm breaking? That I'm going to _keep_ breaking to keep you out of there?"

Dom stared back at Brian, then let a lazy grin come up to mask the way that hit him in the gut. "You going to get to pushing this car, or what?"

Brian grinned, shaking his head as Dom just... let things go... and moved to help Dom get the Nissan moving. "Sure, sure."

* * *

"Well, that's it." The door slammed behind Brian's words as he came home.

"What's it, O'Connor?" Vince's tone was just barely short of hostile as he looked up from his guitar, fingers stilling on the strings. 

Brian snorted, looking back at him with dark eyes. "The heists drying up last week had Bilkins seething but good -- and last night, late, somebody off the docks came in begging for protection. They worked on him all night, but he kept swearing he didn't know who he was calling."

Dinah looked like an innocent angel, sitting with her back against Jesse's chest, her legs stretched out across Leon's. "Really?" she asked dryly, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah, scared to death the truckers were going to kill him for helping set them up. Rolled on a whole bunch of places stuff was stashed..." //If your prints are on any of that stuff, guys, I swear I'm going to kill you all...// He shrugged his shoulders. "And since _I_ didn't have anything to do with that, couldn't give them a damn bit of help one way or the other... my least favorite Fed is getting his wish."

"Sounds like it might be safe to stick our heads up," Leon said with a smile. Dinah smacked him lightly in the arm. 

"What wish?" Dom rumbled.

Brian just gave him a long look. "Me busted out of the force, what'd you think?"

"Making sure we're on the same page," Dom replied, his eyes holding Brian's. He knew about losing chosen paths, and would extend that much sympathy Brian's way.

Brian looked back at him, letting the expression on Dom's face, the sympathy and the understanding settle over the ache in his chest as he'd handed his gun and his badge to Tanner, the sarge's weather-beaten face blank as he took them. He knew Tanner was sure he knew more than he was saying, but... he hadn't said a word about it. "Yeah. We are."

Dom nodded once, dropping into his chair, and waiting to see if Dinah'd give the boys back to Letty, who seemed to have started seeing Leon as potential company, or not. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, or what had happened that Letty -- after all this time -- was bucking him more often than they were okay, that the ways they'd worked since she'd gotten old enough to notice... sometimes didn't, any more, but that wasn't something he was gonna solve today. Leon didn't seem to mind a bit -- better him than one of Hector's boys again. 

Brian went to find Mia, wrapping his arm around her, tugging her in against his chest. He heard Vince start his fingers across the strings again, but it was quiet enough that he could tune it out. 

Mia cuddled up to him, before kissing his ear. "You'll find something, Bri." 

Dinah did unwind and pushed up off the boys to walk over to Dom when Letty shrugged her way. She settled on his lap, thinking that she really needed to head out soon, only to have his arm wrap around her a little tighter. 

Jesse shook his head, laughing. "Like you were ever meant to be a cop, man? Yeah, I hacked your real record," he grinned a little. "You were always one of us." 

Brian shrugged slightly. "Family tradition." 

"Should have been mine and mom's. Sometimes it just doesn't work out," Dinah told him. 

"Sometimes it works out.. just not the way you thought it was gonna," Brian shrugged even as he said it, looking across the room at her and Dom. He and Dom locked eyes, and it was like no one else was in the room with them. He couldn't have chosen any different. Couldn't have been part of Dom losing this, of any of them getting hurt. Losing his badge... hurt way less than losing this would have. 

Dom saw it in his eyes and let the gaze drop, turning to look up at Dinah's face. She returned the look with a smile, pressing up to kiss him lightly. She had to go... there were things Oracle needed her for. But not... right this minute.

Mia slithered free of Brian's arms to go check on dinner, and he just laughed as she called over her shoulder, "Alright, everyone get cleaned up, supper's on in five or so." 

Jesse was up off the couch and halfway to the stairs before her voice died off, crowing as he pushed off Vince's back and made it up first, Vince growling as he chased him and Leon and Letty following a few steps behind, out of their range. Dinah pressed another kiss to Dom's lips, before joining Mia in the kitchen. She washed her hands in there, then helped with the last bit of getting food to the table. 

As the food went on the table, and the crew settled, Dinah looked at Dom taking one end, Mia taking the other, and all the chairs filled in between them. It looked like a good beginning of a new chapter, as she took her seat between Vince and Dom. 

\--End--


End file.
